220 ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY 



Besides which the previous localities reported for 

 Scotland should be re-examined. The absolute first record 

 is English, for Co. Durham, and is very likely correct, 

 as Joshua Alder made a very careful coloured drawing of it, 

 which I have seen more than once, and which is a very 

 faithful representation. 



In 1862 Dr. Jeffreys recorded it for North Mavine in 

 the Shetland Islands, " on stones in the watercourse of a 

 mountain mill." This is extremely doubtful. The habitat 

 suggests Agriolimax Icsvis, and there is no evidence to show 

 that the example was correctly identified, nor who identified 

 it. Dr. Jeffreys himself is out of the question, for he did 

 not profess to know the British slugs critically, according to 

 his own statement. 



In the Naturalist for July 1878, p. 177, Mr. John 

 Conacher, jun., recorded it as found in great numbers in 

 hedge bottoms near Irvine, Ayrshire, in June 1878, and also 

 in the island of Bute, near Rothesay. Mr. Conacher and 

 Mr. Whitwham, who also saw the specimens, particularly 

 noted that the yellow colour was entirely due to the slime of 

 the body, and also that they carefully examined the shield 

 with the microscope. This latter statement would exclude 

 the possibility of Arion subfuscus being the species found, 

 but would not exclude Limax flavus. The date (June) is 

 against the occurrence of an autumnal form like L. tenellus, 

 and " hedge-bottoms " are an unlikely habitat on the face of 

 it, unless there be primitive pine-woods close by. However, 

 the verification of this record would be an easy task for any 

 one resident in the chief cities of Scotland. Messrs. 

 Conacher and Whitwham, both of them personal friends of 

 my own for several years, were not professed limacologists, 

 and might possibly have been mistaken in their identification. 



Now that the British and Scottish status of this unmis- 

 takable species is firmly and finally re-established, I trust 

 that much progress will be made in working out its actual 

 geographical range. 



Since writing the above I have received specimens from 

 two other counties. 



I sent my friend Mr. W. Evans, F.R.S.E., an example 



