Taxonomy
Kingdom:	Phylum:	Class:	Order:	Family:	Genus:	Species:
Animalia	Mollusca	Gastropoda	Helicoidea	Helicidae	Helix	H. aspersa

The Brown Garden Snail is a very typical snail and a common visitor in many gardens all over the world. It is edible and also known under commercial name of ’escargot’, which is used ti indicate many edible snails. The Brown Garden Snail is the second best choice for cooking. The number one snail for human consumption is the Roman Snail, which has a lighter colour and is slightly bigger than the Brown Garden Snail. The Roman Snail usually lives in warmer climate than the Brown Garden Snail. The species has been taken by humans on their migrations and journeys and hence its global popularity. This snail proves to be such a succesful immigrant that is has become a pest in the gardens, especially those in Australia and California.
The shell of the Brown Garden Snail in the 1st picture resembles that of a Roman Snail, but according to the expert, Jan Hein Visser, it actually is just a worn out shell of the Brown Garden Snail.



The age of the animal can be estimated by the patterns and colour of the shell. The 2nd, 3rd, 4th pictures show a young animal, the top picture shows a worn out much older animal. The last but one picture captured a couple of mating Brown garden snails. You can see there are two males mating. Or are these two females? In the bottom picture you can see how the snail lays its eggs.

Cornu aspersum and Cryptomphalus aspersus are other scientific names for Helix aspersa.