Land snail, PNP

On a truly gorgeous day for a hike, I led about a dozen enthusiastic trekkers on an exploration of the Avalonia Land Conservancy's Preston Nature Preserve, a 55-acre stretch of meadow, forest, and wetlands that is fast becoming one of my favorite places on this or any other Earth. The main attraction, I told the group, was the emergence of the Milkweed blossoms, and who knows what butterflies this magnetic flower would attract? As it turned out, however, the lepidopterans were fairly skimpy, but we saw our share of skippers and the first of the Fritillaries. Perhaps the star of the show, besides the refuge itself, was something quite unexpected: a very large collection of land snails. Spotting them working some of the Goldenrod leaves, I realized how incredibly little I know about these unassuming invertebrates that nineteenth-century biologist Edward S. Morse noted would, if carefully studied, "reveal the wonders of God's Providence in as forcible a manner as the history of the higher forms of animal life." I'd better get studying.