In a message dated 98-05-08 08:13:54 EDT, you write:
 
<< >Can any of you tell me the easiest way to clean land snails, from getting
 >them dead to getting the animal out of the shell?  John Bernard
 >[log in to unmask] >>
 
John -- this was a thread about a year ago.  Precision scientific instruments,
ultrasonic devices, chemical agents...you name it, the relative merits of all
were well covered!!
 
Take  the advice my Grandmother gave me when I was 5 years old, clutching my
first shell:  "Put it out on an ant hill, dear, let them do the work!"
Smaller shells?  Smaller ants!
 
(Maybe you want to cover the shell/hill with a weighted box to keep other
varmints away, but, hey, in an afternoon, a hungry colony of ants can do the
work of a team of Conchologists!!)