Direction of coiling (torsion) in snails

Just recently I've been getting a load of emails from students in the US using my snail page, I'm sure there are loads better pages around, so I don't know why they like mine. Perhaps it's the mating pics. Anyway I decided to clear something up, and that is how to tell the difference between dextral and sinistral coiling.  So I drew a diagram showing the difference as my written explanation wasn't very good.  And here it is.

I don't like the word sinistral as it comes from the same old word as sinister, and has negative meanings.  But is used for left-handed people, of which I am one.

Silpha atrata, snail-eating beetle

This is Silpha atrata, it doesn't have a common name.  It is in the burying beetle family, but it is a snail eater.  It has a long head and a poisonous bite.  Both adults and larvae eat snails.

I found it on a woodland path in late May.  Unfortunately my dog had stood on it and killed it.  I noticed it because it was so shiny.  I imagine it had got washed out of a tree as we went for a walk after a heavy shower.  Since then I've seen a few more in the moss around the base of tree trunks and on the trunks itself.  I haven't seen one eating a snail yet though.  Perhaps they bite them then bury them.

Ramshorn snail eggs

Added this photograph of some ramshorn snail eggs to the Freshwater snails page