34^ <y/;^// Life 



peppery and poisonous Emetic Mushroom {RiiRHida 

 emietica). It is a very prolific slug, and during the 

 breeding season — May and June — it lays nearly 500 

 oval and transparent eggs, which are deposited at 

 the roots of plants, and in other suitable situations, 

 in batches. The shell is represented by a number of 

 roundish or oval granules, which were formerly 

 souo'ht for use in medicine — what has not been used 

 in medicine ? — and on this account Ferussac gave 

 this species the name of A. einpiricoriiin, but the 

 name used by Linnaeus — A. afer — has precedence. 



The Dusky Slug (A. suhfuscus) is more cylindrical 

 than the Black Slug, of a reddish-brown colour, 

 marked along the sides with faint black bands. The 

 back is slightly keeled behind, and the foot is grey 

 crossed by black lines. The opening to the lung 

 chamber is almost in the middle of the mantle 

 margin. It inhabits woods and damp places, and 

 attains a length of from 1^ to 2i inches. The Garden 

 Slug (A. hortensis) is about the same size as A. 

 suhfuscus, but varying in colour just as A. ater does, 

 from which it is distinguished by its relatively more 

 slender proportions and by the back being marked 

 by a dark stripe down the middle and a narrower 

 stripe along each side. The mantle is similarly striped. 

 The shelly granules are in this species united into an 

 irregular mass. It is not confined to gardens, but is 

 also common in hedges and woods. 



The Spotted Kerry Slug (Geomalacus maculosus) 

 represents a genus generally similar to Arion, but 

 the animal is capable of far greater extension, so that 

 it can pass through very minute apertures ; its res- 

 piratory orifice is near the front of the mantle, and 



