X-ray Quantitative Texture Analysis (QTA) results are examined for the outer aragonitic shell layers of Helix aspersa aspersa (Müller, 1774) to probe the relevance of the approach to non-flat surfaces. Two sets of H. aspersa aspersa were studied, for a total of 29 samples. Quantitative texture analysis showed that although the nature of the texture present was roughly constant, the textural strength varied significantly among specimens because of biologically inherited surface irregularities. A statistical analysis showed that textural strength exhibited larger standard deviations for snails selected for greater shell weight than for control snails. The H. aspersa aspersa aragonite texture is the same as observed in previous studies, with <110> shell growth directions. This texture causes elastic behavior of the mineral part of the shell, which accommodates moderate shear and compression. We furthermore determine that the colored bands at the shell surface were aligned with the <020> crystal directions.
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