LIMAX TENELLUS. lke 
before the prolongation of the second intestinal tract takes place, except that there 
is an indication of a cecum or rectatheca at the commencement of the rectum; the 
STOMACH is short and broad and honeycombed in texture; liver very soft and 
spongy, and usually red in colour, the left lobe being the most obvious. 
The MANDIBLE or jaw is amber-brown in colour, 
very convex, rather narrow, but with somewhat 
elongate lateral limbs and straight ends, the lower 
outer angle of each limb acute, the upper anele cor- 
respondingly obtuse; the median-beak well marked FiG. 90.—Mandible or jaw of Lina 
and projecting boldly in front. Length one mill. tenellus x 25 (Leipzig , Dr. Simroth). 
The LINGUAL MEMBRANE of a specimen from the Harth, Leipzig, shows a dis- 
tinctly tricuspidate median tooth; the laterals are mnequally tricuspid; the endo- 
conie cutting point being obsolete, but the ectoconie one strongly dev eloped ; the 
marginals become aculeate, but near the lateral series still exhibit three cutting 
points; the extreme marginals lose their inner cusp and become bicuspid, except for 
a few teeth which show vestiges of a second ectocone near the base. 
go 
32 
VAY BOAARAD BFF 
Fic. 91.—Representative denticles from a transverse row of the lingual teeth of Limax tenellus 
Miill. (highly magnified). e's 
The animal collected by Dr. Simroth on the Harth, Leipzig, and the palate prepared by Mr. W. Moss. 
Malm figures two distinct and prominent ectocones on the extreme marginals, 
but I have not been able to verify their presence in a well developed state in the 
Leipzig specimen. 
The formula of a Heipag specimen, nn eee by Prof. Simroth, shows 
ae ie ee oo lo 
2-3 i) 
Food and Habits. — 'This little species 1s comparatively seldom 
observed, owing to the prevailing ignorance of its habits of life, and it is to 
be hoped that the claims of this species to rank as a British species will 
be firmly established now that attention is drawn to these peculiarities. 
In Germany this slug is found on the pine-clad heaths or even in the re- 
motest recesses of the great pine forests, where the ground is deeply covered 
with dense accumulations of pine needles and where scarcely a single 
blade of grass exists. On the fungoid growths, even in such places , Limaa 
tencllus is almost certain to be found if sought for in autumn, when the slug 
is adult and the fungi at the highest period of their development. The 
mushroom eatherers in Germany, collecting slugs for Dr. Simroth, find 
L. tenellus to overwhelmingly outnumber Arion subfuscus and other species 
frequenting the same situations. In other countries, at or towards the 
limits of its geographical range, its habitat 1s not so restricted, and it may 
be frequently met with in the woods composed of beech and other deciduous 
trees. 
Limax tenellus is of active habits, and, according to Simroth, lives exelu- 
sively on fungi, or, if the supply be restricted, becoming predatory or even 
cannibalistic ; - the Boletus is noted as especially preferred, while the poison- 
ous red Agaric i is also eaten on occasion. 
Reproduction and Development. — According to Simroth, this 
species attains its full growth in October, living thence through the winter 
even into the early spring. During the colder season of the year the 
animals pair, and oviposition takes : place i in some suitable damp spot ; the 
eggs, which are about two mill. in diameter, clear, transparent, and elobular, 
are placed i in clusters of thirty or forty; they hatch in a few weeks’ time, 
the young adopting a subterranean life and feeding beneath the surface 
upon the mycelia of fungi quite into early summer, when they are about 
