LIMAX. 39 



treats in the day time. Their growth is rapid, the ani- 

 mal excluded from the egg in the spring arriving at full 

 maturity and producing eggs before the succeeding win- 

 ter. They defend themselves from injurious contact ly 

 instantly secreting, at the part touched, a quantity of 

 milky-white, glutinous mucus. They are active in their 

 motions, and soon escape when disturbed. Suspending 

 themselves, head downwards, they lower themselves 

 from plants and fences by forming a mucous- thread which 

 they attach to the point from which they hang. They 

 are occasionally seen in this situation in rainy weather. 

 During the process of excreting the mucous thread, the 

 alternate undulating expansions and contractions of the 

 locomotive band of the foot are seen to take place, in the 

 same manner as when they are in motion on a plane 

 surface. 



This species is much more prolific than the others, the 

 number of eggs deposited during the year being some- 

 times several hundreds ; its numbers, in favorable locali- 

 ties, are therefore very great. It begins to lay its eggs 

 early in the spring, and continues, with intervals, until 

 checked by the cold of approaching winter. The last 

 deposit of them often remains in the soil until the suc- 

 ceeding spring, when they are hatched with the first gen- 

 eration of the year. The eggs are semi-transparent, ami 

 nearly globular. They produce young in about twenty 

 days after they have been deposited. 



M. Bouchard-Chantereaux has observed them to de- 

 posit eggs in sixty-six days after their own birth, and to 

 attain their full size in eighty-two days. 



