LIMAX. 131 



A. Shield shagreened 



I 



1. LiMAX GAGATES*, Drapamaud. 



L. gagates, Drap. Hist. Moll. p. 122, tab. ix. f . 1 ; F. & H. iv. p. 24, 

 pi. D. D. D. f. 3. 



Body very slightly contracted and nearly cylindrical in front, 

 gradually tapering to a point behind, varying from slate-colour 

 to dark-red or even black, covered "with small oblong inter- 

 laced tubercles : shield oblong, somewhat truncate in front 

 and rounded behind, apparently divided into two lobes, finely 

 shagreened or grained: tentacles very short and thick, not 

 much swollen at their tips : hack sharply keeled its whole 

 length, bordered with white or a lighter colour than the rest 

 of the body : sUme nearly colourless. L. 2-5. B. 0-85. 



Shell oval, rather thick (especially in the middle), and 

 slightly wrinkled. 



Habitat : Hedges and at the roots of grass and the 

 foot of old walls in many parts of Great Britain from 

 the Clyde district to Guernsey; but it appears to be a 

 local species. It also occurs in the north, east, west, and 

 south of France, ranging to Corsica and Algeria, and 

 probably also to Naples. Mr. Norman has given an 

 excellent description of this species in the ^ Zoologist^ 

 for 1853, and remarked that when at rest this slug as- 

 sumes a more rounded form than any other British 

 kind, contracting and squeezing itself into so small 

 a compass that its height is but little exceeded by its 

 length. Its slime is thick and glutinous, resembling 

 varnish. The apparent division of the shield into two 

 lobes, as noticed by Draparnaud, is owing to its being 

 indented behind by the keel. 



* Jet. 



