ScHARFF— On the Slugs of Ireland. 547 



range. I have found it in awood at Kilruddeiy, in Co. Wicklow; also at Killakee, 

 in the Dublin Mountains, and other places far removed from cultivated ground. 



It seemed to me remarkable never to meet with the brown, or yellowish variety 

 in the open country— all were of a dark bluish-gray, and the foot always more 

 yellowish than red. 



Although I did not find this species in Kerry, Miss Warren kindly sent me half 

 a dozen specimens from Sligo, and it has also been recorded by Thompson (43) 

 from the North of Ireland.* 



Food. — I had great difficulty in keeping this species in captivity, and its 

 numbers diminished rapidly until they all died. Pieces of apple and Campanula 

 leaves were eaten, but neither appeared to be relished ; and I am inclined to think 

 that A. hortensis lives chiefly on decaying vegetation, as they are most numerous 

 in the garden among heaps of old weeds. I have never found it on fungi. Sim- 

 rotli (38) believes that it is a vegetable feeder, and that it is especially partial 

 to heavy soil. Gain (10) also found that A. hortensis was rather sickly in confine- 

 ment, but he states that 60 per cent, of the foods offered were taken. 



General Distribution. — Great Britain and Continental Europe, except Scandinavia 

 and Russia. 



Arion bourguignati, Mabille. 



Arion bourguignati, Mabille, Rev. et Mag. de Zool., 1868. Arion hortensis 

 (pars), Jeffreys, Brit. Conch., 1862. 



(Plate LVL, fig. 21.) 



Colour light gray or reddish gray. Lateral bands on body continued to front 

 of mantle. Foot always white. Wrinkles narrow. A distinct keel in young 

 specimens. Receptaculum seminis elongate. 



External Characters. — As I have pointed out above, this species is so much like 

 A. hortensis that the two species are still by many conchologists mistaken for one 

 another. 



The brilliantly white foot is one of the best distinguishing characters, but by 

 the mere touch one is often able to discriminate between the two forms, as A. bour- 

 guignati is always much less slimy. The wrinkles are narrower, and its whole 

 appearance is more slender. Young specimens, as pointed out by Mabille (24), are 

 at once recognized by the keel which, owing to its white colour is rather conspicuous. 

 It is a somewhat smaller species than A. hortensis, the maximum length reaching 

 as a rule not more than 32 mm. 



* I have since found it in Wexford and Queenstown, in the South, and in Connemara, in the West of 

 Ireland. 



4G2 



