AGRIOLIMAX AGRESTIS. 109 
Animal food is also eagerly eaten, this species having been observed 
to devour hop-aphides (Phorodon humuli), may-tles, the young of Succinea 
putris, etc., while in America Mr. J. Ford records that a number of A. 
agrestis, enclosed in a box with several A. campestris, immediately set upon 
and devoured their congeners—a veritable act of cannibalism. 
They will also on opportunity feast upon dead or moribund earthworms, 
butterflies, and animals of their own or other species, nor does any kind 
of animal or vegetable refuse come amiss, as even animal excrement pro- 
vides them with some nourishment. 
A. agrestis is a pugnacious and very active species, and on a smooth path 
can crawl two inches per minute, or at the rate of a mile in twenty-two 
days ten hours; it also slips easily through the fingers when grasped, 
owing to the abundance of its thick milky-white slime, which exudes from 
any part of the body that may be touched, this exudation, however, varies 
in abundance according to the animal’s necessities; when crawling over 
moist ground the secretion of mucus is not excessive, but when travelling 
upon a dry or absorbent surface, when surprised by the sun’s rays, or as a 
defence against enemies, the mucus is more plentifully secreted, and this 
demand under certain circumstances may be so great as to totally exhaust 
the vitality of the animal, numbers being sometimes found dried up upon 
the whitewashed or plastered walls of country houses, where they have 
happened to be surprised by the sun’s rays when crawling over the exposed 
absorbent walls. 
The plenitude of this viscous secretion renders this species a good 
spinner of the mucous filaments, by means of which descent can be made 
from elevated positions. It does not appear to be sufficiently recognized 
that the phenomenon of thread-spinning is not due to a special secretion 
for this particular purpose, but is merely the slime which would be exuded 
in the ordinary way for the purpose of locomotion, and is consequently only 
the usual slime track freed from contact with the ground or neighbouring 
objects. 
During descent by means of this mucus-thread, which A. agrestis has 
been observed to produce at a rate varying up to five inches per minute, 
the locomotory area of the sole is in active undulatory movement, exactly 
as in crawling, and the suspended animal revolves more or less quickly. 
It is one of the readiest spinners amongst our native species, and can 
descend from considerable heights, and if necessary is able to reascend by 
the same thread. Mr. Henry Crowther once observed a specimen near 
Truro, in Cornwall, descending from the branch of an elm-tree twelve feet 
from the ground, and the slug had descended seven feet of this distance 
when discovered. 
It is the spinning Lima of Latham, but not the Limax filans of Hoy, 
which was described as “Lima (filans) cinereus margine flavo,” peculiari- 
ties more applicable to some species of Arion. 
A. agrestis is nocturnal in habit, but like its congeners ventures forth 
also during the day if it be damp and showery. In dry weather and during 
the day it hides away in secluded spots, beneath stones, under clods of 
earth, in worm-holes, ete., sometimes penetrating six or eight inches into 
the earth. 
It is a very hardy species, only retiring for protection when the tempera- 
ture verges on the freezing point, promptly reappearing at the advent of 
milder weather, and’ being active through the winter, except during the 
actual prevalence of frost 
