524 ScHAEFF — On the Slugs of Ireland. 



The general body-colour is a reddish or sometimes a bluish gray, which may 

 be more or less obscured by darker bands or spots. In almost all cases a lighter 

 stripe is left, which runs along the middle of the back. The posterior third of the 

 body is carinated, but the keel is not nearly so marked as in L. maximus. The 

 ground-colour of the mantle is as a rule lighter than that of the body. The 

 middle portion is gray, and bordered on each side by a strip of light ground 

 colour. The dark lateral bands almost surround the whole, although they do not 

 quite meet in front or behind. The head is reddish gray, but it is also subject to 

 slight variation in colour. The tentacles, as has been remarked before, are about 

 half as long as those of an equal-sized specimen of L. maximus (fig. 2), and are 

 somewhat similar in tint. 



Anatomy (Plate LVII., fig. 27). — The interior of the body-cavity, especially 

 posteriorly, is darkly pigmented. The intestinal convolutions are similar in 

 number and shape to those of the preceding species, and there is also a coecum. 

 The hermaphrodite gland (/«y.) is smaller than in the two other species of Limax, 

 generally dark in colour, and often divided into two portions. The ovisperm- 

 duct (o5.) is thick and short. The sperm-duct {sp.) and penis {p.) very short, the 

 latter being distinguished by the presence of a flagellum (/.) which may be 

 looked upon as an accessory gland. The receptaculum seminis [rec.) opens, as 

 in L. maximits, into the lower portion of the penis. 



Reproduction. — I kept a number of specimens of this species in captivity from 

 September until December. Eggs were deposited from the end of September till 

 the middle of October, on an average about twenty in a cluster. The sizes varied 

 somewhat, but they were mostly 5i mm. long by 4 mm. broad, and were 

 extremely like those of L. maximus — very transparent and elastic. The young 

 made their appearance exactly four weeks after the deposition of the eggs, and 

 were of a reddish-violet colour throughout. Even at this stage, from the very 

 first day of their birth, they are easily distinguished from L. maximus. The 

 tentacles are about 2 mm. long in the latter, while in L. marginatus they are only 

 1 mm. in length. The young L. marginatus is born with the lateral bands fully 

 developed, reaching right to the front, whilst in L. maximus., as we have seen, they 

 stop short at the posterior third of the mantle. The bands on the body of the 

 young, as Simroth (38) has pointed out, are not equivalent to those in L. maximus. 

 In fact, they are not the real lateral bands (Stammbinde), but the inner bands, 

 which appear much later in L. maximus. As I found a large number of specimens 

 in September, measuring from 30 to 40 mm., we may conclude that in this species 

 also there must be a deposition of ova at least twice in the year. Simroth (32) 

 believes that this species lives tln-ough several years, but I venture to think that 

 more evidence is needed to support this opinion. 



Habitat. — Limax marginatus has a wide range in this country. Both 



