520 ScHARFF — On the Slugs of Ireland. 



a delicate reddish-yellow, the portion of the mantle above the shell being paler, 

 owing to the transparency of the skin. 



Its duration of life has generally been fixed at one year. [See Moquin- 

 Tandon (26) and Simroth (38).] I took large specimens on the west coast in May, 

 with reproductive organs almost fully developed, and have everywhere taken 

 numerous half-gi'own ones in September ; therefore I conclude that eggs are laid 

 twice in the year. Lehmann (20) seems to be of the same opinion. It is probable 

 that large specimens owing to the scarcity of food have less chance of surviving 

 winter than small ones, so that comparatively few will be fully developed in the 

 following June. In the West, where the climate is milder, large ones find food 

 more plentifully throughout the winter, and we thus meet with many full-grown 

 specimens by May. 



Habitat. — " L. maximus^'' Miss Warren wrote to me some time ago from Co. 

 Mayo, " is a solitary species, which may be explained by the fact that it is a great 

 traveller." This agrees exactly with my own observation. One finds either a 

 solitary specimen or two not far from one another, but rarely more. 



There are frequent references [see Leach (19), Reeve (34), and Simroth (38)] 

 to this slug having been found in cellars in other countries, but neither my prede- 

 cessors Clarke (3) or Thompson (43), nor myself, have ever met with it in the house. 

 I have found L. maximus in my own garden in Dublin, and in the country 

 everywhere, chiefly in woods, under stones and tree trunks, and near the sea- 

 shore, almost within high- water mark, but always locally. 



Food. — Simroth (38) observes that the spirit in which specimens of L. maximus 

 have been killed is never coloured green. He found that plants containing 

 chlorophyll were always refused, whilst fungi were greedily devoured, and form 

 the staple food of these slugs. When found in the cellar they may also live on 

 meat or the juicy stalks of vegetables. 



My experience almost agrees with that of Simroth in the above. The speci- 

 mens which I kept in captivity only once gnawed at the green leaf of a Campanula 

 after having received no other food for a week. 



This species, like many others, occasionally exhibits a strong tendency towards 

 cannibalism. It appeared to me that, especially where one specimen became 

 rather sickly, the others would seize upon it and devour it. 



Quite recently Gain (10) published some very interesting observations on the 

 food of slugs. He says — "X. maximus is a very dainty feeder, preferring fungi to 

 all other foods, and it seems to be harmless in the garden." Kew (17) writes on 

 the same subject, " This species feeds freely on bread, and it also ate Russula 

 emetica, but ripe berries of Solanum dulcamara were refused." 



General Distribution. — Great Britain, throughout Continental Europe and 



