HABITS AND PROPERTIES. 3 



HABITS AND PROPERTIES. The LIMACID.E are more 

 especially nocturnal than the other families of the order, 

 and they are so rarely visible in the day time that thou- 

 sands may be near without being known. The injury 

 which they commit in kitchen-gardens, for this reason, 

 is often vaguely ascribed to worms or to birds ; and no 

 measures are taken against the real culprits. Their 

 habits, in general, coincide with those which have been 

 described as distinguishing the order ; and we shall 

 therefore mention here only those which are peculiar to 

 them. They differ from the other families in not possess- 

 ing the faculty of hibernation, or suspension of their 

 organic functions during the cold season. In temperate 

 latitudes, the Helicidce hibernate, under all circum- 

 stances, on the approach of cold weather ; the Limacidce, 

 on the contrary, having the power of resisting extreme 

 cold, continue in their usual haunts until severe frosts set 

 in, when they retire into the earth and other sheltered 

 retreats. Here they remain in a state of inaction and 

 partial torpidity ; the functions of the body, however, still 

 going on, though slowly and with diminished force. A 

 slight increase of heat arouses them and stimulates their 

 organs to renewed action, and they accordingly often 

 come abroad in mild weather, even during the winter. 

 Those which inhabit cellars and other protected situations, 

 are in motion throughout the year ; and individuals of 

 all the genera and species which we have kept in con- 

 finement have continued active, fed freely, and increased 

 in size as much in the coldest months as hi the 'summer. 



