HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



99 



ON THE VARIATION AND CONTINENTAL 

 DISTRIBUTION OF THE BRITISH SLUGS. 



By J. W. Williams, D.Sc, &c. 



{Continued from p. 55.] 



/I MA LI A G AGATES, Drap— This, one of the 

 ■^J- most local of British slugs, is found over the 

 greater portion of Europe, existing in France, Cor- 

 sica, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Algeria, the Canary 

 Isles, Madeira, the Azores, and in St. Helena. The 

 following varieties are known : — 



Var. olivacca *, Moq. : animal deep grey olive- 

 coloured. My sister has sent me this variety from 

 Stourport in Worcestershire, where Amalia gagates 

 seem to be abundant. Moquin-Tandon found it at 

 Tolouse, and Lessona and Pollonera in their mono- 

 graph describe it as Italian, and coming from Nice. 



Var. plumbeus*, Moq. : animal blackish-grey, more 

 or less lead-coloured. D'Orbigny found this variety 

 at Toulouse, and it has been recorded from several 

 British localities. 



Var. rava *, Williams : animal drab-coloured, 

 slightly fuscous, with the mantle of a lighter colour 

 than the back. My sister sent me this new variety 

 from Stourport. 



Var. bcdriaga:, Lessona and Pollonera : animal black 

 with lateral blackish bands on the sole. Bedriaga 

 records this variety from Niee, and Falchi from Sar- 

 dinia. Italian. 



Var. Bcnoiti, Lessona and Pollonera : animal black, 

 keel white. Italian. Lessona found this at Messina. 



Amalia gagates has been found in France at the 

 following localities : Vendee (Letourneaux), Cha- 

 rente-Inferieure, Gers (Mabille), Haute-Loire (Pascal), 

 Isere (Gras), Haute-Garonne (Fagot), Maritime Alps 

 (Neville), Herault (Dubreuil), Agenais, Gironde 

 (Gassies), Vosges (Puton),, Rhone (Locard), Basses- 

 Pyrenees (Mabille), Bretagne (Desmers), Le Nord 

 (Norguet), Loire-Inferieure (Caillaud), and by Massot 

 in the Oriental Pyrenees. 



Amalia marginata, Mull. — This species is also 

 generally distributed. According to the French 

 literature on this slug, Bourguignat took it from 

 Grande-Chartreuse, Isere, and the Savoy ; Mabille 

 and Drouet from Vienna, Gers, Moselle, Cote-d'Or ; 

 Dubreuil from Herault ; Fagot from Haute-Garonne ; 

 Ray and Drouet from Champagne ; Pascal from 

 Auvergne ; Massat from the Oriental Pyrenees ; and 

 Locard from Ain. According to Lessona the type- 

 form is common enough in Italy. The varieties 

 are : — 



Var. rufula *, Moq. : animal yellowish-red. French. 

 Moquin-Tandon found this variety at Crouzet Roque- 

 fort, and Sarrat. 



Var. rustica *, Millet : animal greyish, mantle 

 reddish, with a longitudinal black band on each side ; 

 shield whitish( = L. rusticus, Mill.). Millet records 

 this from the north of Anjou, Bouillet and Thorigne 



and Lessona from the valleys of the Lombardian and 

 Piedmontese Alps. 



Limax flavus, Linn. — This is another generally 

 distributed species. It is said to have become accli- 

 matised in America, where it occurs near Portland, 

 Maine. Two new varieties have been described by 

 Roebuck as indigenous to Britain. 



Var. grisea *, Roebuck : like the^ type, except that 

 the ground colour is grey, instead of yellow. 



Var. suffusa *, Roebuck : grey, unicolor. 



Nzx.flavesccns, Fer. : animal yellowish, indistinctly 

 spotted. This has been found by Lessona and Pol- 

 lonera in Liguria, Tuscany, Sardinia, and Sicily. 

 French. 



Var. rufescens, Moq. : animal reddish, spots very 

 indistinct. Found in France and all over Italy. Not 

 yet described as British. 



Var. maculata, Moq. : animal brown, with black 

 spots. French. Pini found it at Esino in Lombardy. 



Var. viresccns*, Fer. : animal greenish, spots in- 

 distinct. French. Found in Liguria by Lessona. 



Var. tigrina, Pini : Lessona and Pollonera describe 

 this variety as " flavo-rufescens, nigro-variegatus ; 

 clypeo postice ample nigro-maculato ; medio dorsi 

 lineam flavo-rufescentem longitudinaliter ferentes, 

 carinam connectentem." Found by its discoverer at 

 Esino in Lombardy. 



Var. colubrina*, Pini: "flavus, clypeo dorsoque 

 late ac irregulariter nigro-maculato ; interstitiis flavis 

 maculas nigras requantibus." Pini found this at Esino. 



(To be continued,') 



TEETH OF FLIES. 

 By W. H. Harris. 



No.IX.—AJVTJfOMY/A PLUVIALIS. 



THIS fly may be taken occasionally in our houses, 

 where it sometimes puts in an appearance 

 along with the ordinary house-fly, but when it does 

 so it is generally looked upon as being indicative of 

 rainy weather setting in at a not very remote period ; 

 its natural habitat, however, is out of doors, and it 

 may be taken in various situations. 



It is a common but rather pretty species, subject to 

 vary in appearance very considerably ; it is known 

 by its spotted appearance, but not infrequently these 

 marks are found to coalesce to such a degree as to 

 very materially alter the design on the thorax and 

 abdomen. " Two of the varieties thus produced have 

 been exalted by Rondani into distinct species, but 

 they possess no real specific distinctions " (Meade, 

 " Entomologist's Monthly Magazine," vol. xix. 



P- 32). 



The general character of the genus to which this 

 fly belongs is given by the same authority as follows : 

 " Eyes bare, contiguous or sub-contiguous in the 



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