Habits of Testacellus Sciitulum. 



45 



who informed me that the part of the year in which they are 

 more readily met with is from August to November, both in- 

 clusive : and that he has never observed them to feed on any 

 kind of vegetable. Not a single specimen was observable on 

 the walks or borders at this date ; but I did not explore them 

 very diligently. 



As consorting with this mention of Testacellus Scutulum 

 Sowerby, it may not be disapproved to present here, from the 

 Encyclopedia of Agriculture, ed. 2. p. 1121. § 7706., a notice 

 of a kindred species, T. Maugez of Ferussac, which exists, or 



recently did exist, 

 at Bristol, and the 

 figure of which 

 (fg. 8. c and d) 

 will also serve, by 

 its resemblance, to 

 give a pretty pre- 

 cise idea of T. 

 Scutulum. The 

 notice in the Ency- 

 clopaedia of Agri- 

 culture is this: — "The shell slug, Testacellus Maugez (c) 

 is a native of Teneriffe, and has likewise been found in 

 several parts of France and Spain : it has recently been dis- 

 covered in some gardens near Bristol, by Mr. Miller of that 

 city. It is a highly curious animal, remarkable for feeding 

 upon earth-worms ; and may therefore be beneficially intro- 

 duced into such gardens as are overstocked with that other- 

 wise useful animal. It is readily distinguished from all other 

 slugs in this country [T. Scutulum seems here to have been 

 forgotten] by having a thin oval shell (d) affixed to the hinder 

 part of its body."* 



Mr. J. D. C. Sowerby conceives that T. Maugez is not in- 

 digenous to Britain, but that the specimens at Bristol were 

 imported, probably by accident, along with plants from Tene- 

 riffe or elsewhere : and he believes that they have been since 

 protected in a green-house, and their preservation attended to. 

 This remark, and the fact that Mr. Blair never finds T. 

 Scutulum far from the green-house, and that in the Kensing- 

 ton forcing gardens, where it occurs, green-houses and other 

 conveniences for forcing abound, suggest that T. Scutulum 

 itself may also be comparatively tender, and that it is just 

 possible, as well, that it may have originally been imported 

 with plants from abroad. 



* The figures accompanying Testacellus Maugei, being on the same 

 block, are inseparable : they represent, a, Limax agrestis ; 6, eggs of Limax 

 agrestis ; e y shell of Helix nemoralis. 



