Whenever I think of a shell-less snail, the first thing that pops into my mind is a spell from Harry Potter, which poor Ron once mistakenly cast upon himself.
In scientific terms, these shell-less creatures are known as “slugs” or “蛞蝓” in Chinese. Interestingly, typing “蛞蝓” on your phone brings up the snail emoji.
The term “slug” is much more commonly used in English than its Chinese counterpart. Additionally, the English word “sluggish”, meaning slow-moving, is derived from the slug’s nature.
Ever since I noticed slugs near the water tower, they seem to be everywhere, especially during evenings. After rains, I’d often find numerous snails crawling about, fascinating creatures that piqued my childhood curiosity.
On a related note, the naturalist Jean-Henri Fabre once studied the relationship between slugs and mushrooms. After observing that slugs showed little interest in certain types of mushrooms, he mused in his writings, “If we let them dictate which mushrooms are edible, might we miss out on some of the most delicious ones?”