Snails were the popular image for the Lombard Jews in the middle ages. They were slimy, slithered, brought their protection with them, and were poisonous.

The snails were also a meme in the middle ages that referenced the claim by christians across northern Europe that the jews, organized by the Lombards, put 'whelks', and poisonous snails into the wells of N. Europe in order to cause the Black Death. There is some historical data to support this claim, as we find deep sea 'cone' snail shells in abandoned b/c of poisoning, wells across northern Poland & Germany. And prior to the period of the Black Death, new forms of deeper, still near coastal, net fishing had been brought into commercial use.

The Lombard jews were known to be 'disloyal', and 'treasonous' to any, and all peoples and government, and were the source of the hugely abusive loans that were offered right after the 1/3 die-off of the working population of Europe due to the Black Death.