hand-slugs and Glass-shells 335 



directed cabbag-e and lettuce leaves to be put down in 

 the hope that the slug would stay upon this choice 

 food ; but so far as we could determine from an 

 examination of these leaves the slug never went near 

 them. I observed that he had either a feeling for 

 colour or that he found crimson more nourishing, for 

 his depredations were almost confined to cloth of that 

 hue. I gave instructions that if caught the slug was 

 not to be summarily dealt with, but detained until I 

 could see it and lix its specific identity ; so one day 

 I received a note to say this molluscan De Wet had 

 been captured. On arriving on the scene I was 

 presented with a chip match-box and told the slug 

 was within. The slug had been within, but had 

 made off again as any sensible slug would have done ; 

 and he took care never to be caught again, so his 

 identity could not be established. To-day, however, 

 with a wider knowledge of the ways of slugs, I do 

 not feel a shadow^ of doubt that it was L. 

 maximiis turned bibliophile. Had we offered him a 

 mutton cutlet, or even a slice of bread-and-butter, 

 instead of cabbage leaves, we might have caught him. 

 The Tree Slug (L. marginatii^'^) might be mis- 

 taken for a half - grown individual of L. 'niaxmiiis 

 but for the different habitat. Marginahis affects 

 trees (especially beech and walnut) and lichen-covered 

 rocks. Its colour is slaty-grey, with a bias either to 

 blue or green, spotted with yellowish white, and 

 marked along each side by a darker band. Tow^ards 

 the tail the back is keeled, and the foot has a wdiitish 

 edge all round. The tentacles are much shorter than 

 in L. niaxirnus ; and the thin glossy shell is almost 

 flat. It feeds entirely upon lichens, and when seen 



