244 



HA RD WICKE'S SCIENCE- G OSS J P. 



The fact of this slug forming a thread by which it 

 suspends itself from trees was first noticed by Lister 

 (Anim. Ang. iii.), and since then by Latham (Linn. 

 Trans, i. 1S2 and iv. 85), and by many others. 



Heynemann says, in Mai. Blatt. xvi. pp. 143-147, 

 that. L. flavus is identical with the Australian species 

 which has been described under the names of Z. 

 breckworthianus , by Lehmann, and no doubt has been 

 introduced by colonists into that island continent. 

 Linne described this slug as L. flavus, the reader 

 knows ; but it was described by Lister before him as 

 L. varicgatus. Lister's original is "Limax succinei 

 coloris, albidus maculis insignitus " (Exerc. Anat. 

 1. t. 1.); this does not accord with the Swede's 

 account, but they are only varietal distinctions. 



Z. agrestis, Linn. 1758. — Forbes, in his "British 

 Molluscs," figures a monstrosity of this species with 

 the two upper eye-bearing tentacles united into a 

 single conical prominence. 



Hoy, as long back as 1790, spoke of this slug 

 spinning suspensory threads, but this antiquated fact 

 has been newly discovered, it seems, by Eimer (Zool. 

 Anz. i. p. 123). 



Bouchard observed two individuals lay no fewer 

 than 380 eggs, and as they commence laying on the 

 sixty-sixth day of their age, and they do not reach their 

 full size until the ninety-second day, no wonder they 

 are plagues and pests. Besides, they have three or 

 four families in the year. But M. Laurent has 

 found a fungus in the eggs even before they are ex- 

 cluded from the parent. Gracious Providence, thou 

 art kind ! 



M. Recluz observed the propensity of this slug for 

 poisonous mushrooms ; they will eat Agaricus 

 muscarius and A. phalloides without hurt, but will 

 pass by as unworthy of notice Boletus luridus. The 



•32 . I . "3,2 



dental formula is — — : — — . They are indigenous to 

 100 ' fa 



Greenland. 



Limax tenellus. Nilss. 1822. — The first specimen 

 of this slug found in Britain was by Mr. Blacklock, in 

 a wood at Allansford, near Shortly Bridge, in 

 Northumberland. 



MM. Ray and Drouet, in their "Catalogue des 

 Mollusques vivants de la Champagne meridionale " in 

 Guer. " Rev. et Magaz. Zool." 1857, refer this species 

 to the genus Arion, and it is quite possible they mis- 

 took young specimens of Arion hortensis for Z. 

 tenellus. 



L. Levis, Mull. 1774.— H. Simroth, in S. B. Ges. 

 Leipzig, 1883, p. 74, says that female and not 

 hermaphrodite specimens of this species exist. If 

 this be correct, it is a specialisation that must be 

 made great things of in many ways. 



Baudon, in J. de Conch, vol. xxxii. p. 320, describes 

 a monstrosity without tentacles. 



Gen. Lehmannia, Heynem. — Why do we English, 

 Scottish, and Irish workers not recognise this genus ? 

 Our best continental authorities do, and use it. We 



must not be behind the times. Heynemann described 

 it in " Malakozoologische Blatter," vol. x. p. 211. 



Z. marginata — and why say Limax arborum, when 

 this was named so by Bouchard in 1838, and that so 

 by Muller long before in 1774 ? Who has the priority ? 

 I am afeard 'tis Muller. 



According to Miss Esmark, in N. Mag. Nature, 

 vol. xxvii. pp. 82, 92, and 93, the teeth in young 

 specimens of this slug differ from those in adult. In 

 the young the lateral row has a smaller number of 

 teeth than in full-grown animals, and whereas all the 

 teeth in the young have lateral points, in the adults 

 only the marginal teeth possess them. 



Hoy, Shaw, and Latham described a Limax fllans-; 

 this most probably is identical with Lehmanni-a 

 marginata, for these old observers named the slug by 

 that name on account of the faculty it possessed of 

 letting itself down by a thread from the branches of 

 trees. 



Gen. Amalia, Moq.-Tandon, 1856. — A. gagates, 

 Drap. 1S01.— The Rev. B. T. Clarke, who first 

 noticed this slug as an inhabitant of the British Isles, 

 found it in several Irish localities. Tate, in his- 

 "British Molluscs," categorically says this species 

 is littoral in distribution ; this I know to be wrong, 

 for I have found it abundantly in the Midlands ; and 

 there are other observers who have found it very far 

 inland. 



{To be continued.) 



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