146 MILAX GAGATES. 
Var. pallidissima Pollonera, Boll. Mus. Zool. Torino, April 1891. 
Amalia gagates var. eremiophila Simroth, Nack. Portug.-Azor. Fauna, 1891, pl. 11, f. 3. 
ANIMAL pale grey, sometimes with a lavender tinge. 
This distinet variety, which Simroth under the name of var. eremiophila regards 
as a pale steppe form of Milax gagates, is not the form described by Bourguignat as 
Limax eremiophila, which in many respects is different, and amongst other features 
is described as possessing a yellow keel. 
Channel Isles—V. pallidissima, St. Sampson’s, Guernsey, Sep. 1891! B. Tomlin. 
Hants S.—Var. pallidissima, Christchurch, Jan. 1883 ! C. Ashford. 
Middlesex—Churchyard Bottom wood, Highgate, April 1889! H. W. Kew. 
Cardigan—Var. pallidissima, garden, Aber: ayron, May 1888 ! W. Whitwell. 
Dublin—Var. pallidissima, Donnybrook, Aug. 1888! G. Barrett-Hamilton. 
Portugal—Sub-var. eremiophila Simroth, Lisbon and Abrantes in Estremadura, 
and in the Algarve (Simroth, op. cit. ). 
Malta—Var. pallidissima (Pollonera, op. cit.). 
Var. bicolor 'l'aylor. 
ANIMAL of a deep red on the sides ; SHIELD and BACK deep brown. 
The var. raymondiana as figured by Simroth (Nacktsehn. Portug.-Azor. Fauna, 
joe We ies 2) has some relations with this variety, but is very much duller in its 
colours ; “it is considered by some authors as identical with the var. maderensis of 
Cockerell. The Limazx raymondiana as figured and described by Bourguignat has 
the sides of a warm ochreous-yellow. 
Channel Isles—St. Sampson’s, Guernsey, Sept. 1891 ! B. Tomlin. 
Var. benoiti Less. & Poll., Monog. Limac. Ital., 1882, p. 59, pl. 1, f. 9. 
ANIMAL black, dorsal keel whitish. 
According to the Rey. B. J. Clarke, the keel in the young is invariably yellow, 
but gradually assumes during growth the same tint as the dorsum; the var. benoiti 
may, therefore, be regarded as characterized by the retention to mature life of 
juvenile coloration. 
Simroth considers the Limax scaptobius Bourg., from Algiers, Portugal, and 
Gibraltar, as a young form of M. gagates, which has retained the pale keel line. 
Edinburgh—A sub-variety of this form with a yellowish keel was found at 
Levenhall, Aug. 1886, by Mr. W. Denison Roebuck. 
Sicily —Messina (Less. & Poll., op. cit.). 
Geographical Distribution.—-In its natural range Milax gagates 
appears to be restricted to the Western Palearctic and Mediterranean 
regions, and presents many analogies with the area of dispersal of Helix 
asperst. 
In the British Isles, 47, gagates is dispersed more or less interruptedly 
over the entire area, excepting the northern half of Scotland, from whence 
it has not as yet been reported. 
In the remote oceanic islands and distant countries where the species 
has been found, its occurrence is probably to be attributed to accidental 
or unintentional introduction by human agency. 
M. gagates has been credited by some authors with being a strictly 
littoral species, but although perhaps more plentiful along the coast, where 
it is sometimes found living quite within the influence of the sea spray at 
high tides, it is by no means restricted to such places, but occurs freely 
inland. 
INGLAND AND WALES. 
Channel Isles—Guernsey, at St. Martin’s, Aug. 1856 Ae M. Norman, Zool., 
1856, p. 5324) ; St. Peter’s Port, 1887; and St. Sampson’s, Sept. 1891 ! B. Tomlin. 
PENINSULA. 
Cornwall W.—Not uncommon (E. D. Marquand, Penzance Trans., 1884). Fal- 
mouth, Nov. 1901, H. Overton (J. of Mal., Dec. 1901). Garden, Truro Vean Terrace, 
Truro, J. H. James! (T. D. A. Cockerell, Sci. Goss., May 1886, p. 114). Newquay 
(A. Belt, Sci. Goss., Aug. 1893). 
