Rev. B. J. Clarke on Irish species of the genus Limax. 



' T .iifoc/^onc -fno/^i-v-f ocao-rofnc r»nrvifo rrramilr^srk cnlnr* mo- 



339 



L. " Lutescens fusco-tesseratus, capite granuloso, sulco marginal!, 



carina dorsali succinea, valde notata lateribus pallidis." — Ferussac. 



Hah. Circular Road near Phoenix Park, co. Dublin, R. Ball, Esq. 



Specimens of this Limax have been obligingly forwarded to me 

 by Mr. Ball of Dublin^ as taken by him on the Circular Road in< 

 ditches. They agree well with Ferussac^ s description and figures, 

 and also with the diagnostic characters as given by Mr. Gray in 

 his edition of Turton's ' Manual.^ '^ Keeled slug, yellowish tes- 

 sellated with brown ; head and tentacles black ; mantle granulous 

 and with a furrow near its margin, the ridge or keel of the back 

 very obvious and of an amber colour ; the sides pale ; shell (PI. X. 

 fig. e.) oval, often thickened, and very convex beneath.^' --. 



This species is doubtless the L. carinatus of Leach. Mr. Alder 

 has separated it from the L. Sowerbii of Ferussac in his catalogue, 

 but he informs me he did so " merely because they were already 

 recorded species which he had not an opportunity of investiga- 

 ting.^^ Mr. Alder has kindly favoured me with the examination 

 of a shell of the only keeled slug which has occurred to him as 

 found near Bristol, and which I consider to have belonged to a 

 young individual of L. Sowerbii. 



2. Limax Gagates, Drap. t. 9. figs. 1,2. r 



Limax Gagates, Ferus. Hist. Moll. pp. 75 & 76. t. 6. figs. 1,2. 



Limax. "Niger nitidus, corpore striate subrugoso, dorso carinato." 



— Drap. 

 Var. /5. Ferussac. ** Plumbeus vel griseo-niger." — PI. XIL figs. 16, 



17,21. 

 Var. y. Clarke. Fuscus, lateribus pallidis. — PL XIL figs. IS, 19, 20. 



IIa:b. Fields, gardens and meadows, Ireland. 



I feel great pleasure in being able to record the occurrence in 

 Ireland of this interesting moUusk, which has hitherto been un- 

 known as a British species. 



The Irish/specimens are mostly referable to var. ^. Ferussac. 

 Animal of a fine deep blue-black or lead colour; sides pale gray- 

 ish ; tentacles dark gray ; sole of the foot whitish. 



The variety 7. is not unfrequently found with the above ; they 

 are yellowish brown clouded with gray, the keel often narrowly 

 margined with yellow, and the sides of the mantle yellowish. 



Within the present month (September) I have taken specimens 

 at Tourmakady Lodge, on the borders of Lough Mask, which 

 approach closer to Draparnaud^s description than any I have 

 hitherto observed ; they were of a deep black colour, the sides 

 paler, and exhibiting that greenish tinge of which the latter au- 

 thor makes mention. 



The mantle of this species is truncated behind, granulated or 



2 A2 



