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THE RE DISCOVERY OF LIMAX TENELLUS, 

 MULL., IN BRITAIN AND ESSEX. 



By T. FETCH, B.A., B.Sc. 



ALTHOUGH the first British example of this species was 

 discovered in Durham in 1853, and its occurrence placed 

 beyond question by an accurate coloured drawing by Mr. F. 

 Alder, the absence of other authentic records during the last fifty 

 years threw considerable doubt on its status as a British species 

 and finally led to its exclusion from the list of British mollusca» 



This year, the Rev. Robert Godfrey, whilst collecting slugs 

 for Mr. \V. Denison Roebuck, found it in abundance in the pine 

 woods of Rothiemurchus, vice-county Easterness [Naturalisty. 

 Oct. 1904), and, what may be more interesting to Essex 

 naturalists. Mr. C. T. M. Plowright and myself found several 

 specimens in Epping Forest, near Loughton, on Oct. 2nd. 



Llmax ienellus resembles L. cineveoniger in its preference for 

 fungi. It is said to pass half the year underground, living on 

 fungal hyphae, appearing above ground with the fungi in 

 autumn. In the presence instance it was taken on Riissula vesca 

 in company with Avion hovtensis. In Germany it is almost 

 exclusively a pine-wood species, inhabiting, as at Rothiemurchus, 

 the accumulations of pine needles in the deeper parts of the 

 forests. In Epping it was found under pollarded hornbeams in 

 a somewhat open situation, where the ground was well grassed 

 over, a habitat for which it has been recorded trotn Russia and 

 Scandinavia. 



Owing to its moderate size (30-40 mm.) and slender, delicate 

 appearance, this slug may easily be passed over as an immature 

 example of one of the larger species, but the black tentacles, 

 uniform yellow colouring, and yellow slime separate it from all 

 others. All the British examples are referable to the variety 

 cevea, in which the animal is " of a somewhat uniform waxy- 

 yellow colour, with only faint traces of lateral banding." 



Mr. J. W. Taylor, to whom an Epping specimen has been 

 submitted, writes : " It is an undoubted example of LimaK 

 tenellus var. cere a.'' 



