ScHARFF — On the Slugs of Ireland. 523 



Food. — Clarke (3) states that he kept specimens in confinement on bread, 

 which they eat voraciously. I tried them with campanula leaves, but they would 

 not touch them. Gain (10) found that they eat the stalks of cabbage and lettuce, 

 raw and cooked potatoes, turnips and fruits, but that their favourite food is cream. 

 Of foliage they took only the holly {Ilex aquifolium) at first, but he induced them 

 later on to take leaves of the bean plant, bryony {Bnjonia divisa), Campanula 

 latifolia, and others. I have once found them | feeding on a large fungus, and as 

 they never colour spirit green, I have no doubt that Simroth (38) is right in 

 concluding that their natural food consists in non-chlorophyllaceous substances. 



General Distribution. — Great Britain ; throughout continental Europe and Asia 

 Minor; also the islands of Sicily, Sardinia, Madeira, the Azores, and Balearic 

 Isles. It occm-s also, but has probably been introduced, on the east coast of North 

 America and Brazil, as well as in Australia and New Zealand. 



Limax marginatus, Miiller. 



Limax marginatus, Miiller, Hist. Verm.., 1774. Limax arborum, Bouchard- 

 Chantereaux, 1838, Cat. Moll. Terr, et Fluv., Pas-de- Calais. Limax arborum, 

 JefPreys, Brit. Conch., 1862. 



(Plate LVL, fig. 4.) 



Body gelatinous, only slightly keeled towards tail. Colour, generally a 

 reddish gray ; dark lateral bands on body, continued to the front of mantle. 

 Tentacles short. A coecum in intestine, and a flagellum attached to penis. 



Sijnonymrj. — Jeffreys (16), in his text-book, seems to take it for granted that 

 the species described under the above name by Miiller (28) is identical with 

 Draparnaud's (5) marginatus, although Draparnaud himself did not feel certain, 

 on account of its different habits. What Draparnaud described was either the 

 Amalia carinata (Leach) or a closely allied species ; for, whilst Miiller distinctly 

 mentioned that his species inhabits the beech, Draparnaud's is a ground slug, and 

 never ascends trees. 



External Characters. — I have already mentioned that the lateral lyre-shaped 

 bands on the mantle are a most typical character. In very dark specimens these 

 bands may almost disajDpear ; but I have never seen one in which they could not 

 be recognized. The bands alone are sufficient to distinguish this slug from 

 L. maximus and L. flavus. Moreover, it is distinguished from all other slugs by its 

 gelatinous appearance, and the slightest touch will cause it to give off a most 

 abundant watery mucus. It never grows to the size of L. maximus, with which, 

 by the uninitiated, it might be confounded. The largest specimen I have seen 

 measured 80 mm. 



4 D 2 



