DISPERSAL BY MAN. 207 



ever, they have been widely scattered by man, being 

 carried, no doubt, for the most part, along with consign- 

 ments of plants, shrubs, etc. Many kinds, indeed, 

 seem eminently suited for such transportal ; of Testa- 

 cella haliotidea^ for instance, Mr. Jeffreys writes : 



" A usual habitat of this kind of Testacella is at the 

 roots of flower-plants, or under heaps of dead leaves in 

 gardens; and if a plant were imported into this country 

 from the botanic garden at Montpellier with the native 

 soil or a compost made of leaf-mould, either the snail- 

 slug or its eggs would perhaps accompany it." ^ 



The presence of T. maiig ei in this country is usually 

 attributed to transportal with plants. Many kinds 

 must annually travel in safety from one country to 

 another in Wardian cases, etc. Observed facts proving 

 dispersal in this way, however, are probably scarce, 

 but this is explained perhaps by the fact that the crea- 

 tures, probably travelling chiefly as ova, are not likely 

 to be often noticed. Tasmanian specimens of the great 

 grey slug {Limax maxiimis) have been observed to be 

 infested with anacarus, and if this proves to be identical 

 with the European parasite, the fact will argue, as Mr. 

 Hedley remarks, that the animals migrated in the adult 

 rather than in the ^gg state." The United States National 

 Museum, it is interesting to find, once "received a 

 specimen of the peculiar slug Veronicella which had 

 been found by the giver in a bunch of bananas ; '^ ^ and 



* " British Conchology," i. (1862), p. 146. 



* C. Hedley, "Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist.," (6), ix. (1892), p. 170. 

 ^ R, E. C. Stearns, " West American Scientist," vii. (1891), p. 108. 



