Angaria

Image: Shellnut

Here come those snails again, showing us once more that you don't need to live fast to leave a good-looking corpse.

Image: Shellnut
A. sphaerula

Angaria is a genus containing about 15 species of snails found in the Indo-Pacific region, Australia and New Zealand.

Image: H. Zell
A. poppei

Their shells are only about an inch or two across but they fill that space with enough spikes, jagged edges and colours to do even the most bedazzling World of Warcraft character proud. There's a lot of variability even within a single species. Snails like to express their individuality.

Image: H. Zell
A. delphinus

By the way, I've no idea why they're called Angaria.

Image: Shellnut
A. melanacantha

Angaria was the name of a Roman postal system where couriers on horseback were stationed along those famous Roman roads. It was their job - nay, their duty, by law - to make sure those royal letters got to their destination come rain or shine, night or day.

All that huffing and puffing and horsing and coursing... Doesn't exactly scream 'snail' now, does it?

Image: Shellnut
A. sphaerula

The system was invented by the Persians in the 6th Century BC and later adopted by the Romans. The word itself comes from the Greek version of the Babylonian word for those old, Persian couriers. All of which rather makes those empires seem like mighty couriers on the Road of Time.

Image: H. Zell
A. melanacantha

And the baton of angaria keeps travelling. The word came to refer to any compulsory service demanded by a government, lord or church and even today we have something only slightly different. It's called angary, and in international law it refers to the right of a belligerent state to seize, use or destroy a neutral state's stuff during war.

So maybe that's it? Just look at those shells. These guys aren't just angary, they're furious!