SOME RECENT SLUG PAPERS. 



By. D. F. HKYNEMAXN. 

 Fiankl'ort on Main. 



Dr. Siniroth has recently sent me two papers on Slugs, a group of molluscs 

 upon which he has been working for many years with inexhaustible zeal and 

 success. 



The first is on the Philoini/riiJae and An'onulae (Siiz. ber. naturf. Gesell. 

 Leipzig, Jan. 14th, 1902) of which, as well as the second, the reprint is jusi 

 cominof to hand. A more detailed treatise of the two families is promised, 

 which will be publi.shed in Tokio, in the meantime a preliminary account is 

 rriven which draws into the range of discussion, in the course of various 

 divisions devoted to anatomy, such genera as Oopi'lta, Anadenus, etc. Of the 

 genus Philomycus the following are treated of : P. striatus, v. Hass., from 

 Java, P. hallus, n.sp., and P. tonkifwnsis, n.sp , both fiom Tonkin, P. 

 faiiranendx, n.sp., from Formosa, P. doederleini, n.sp., from the Island ol 

 Liu-Kiu, P. hilineaius 1, Bens., from the Japanese Islands, P. melarhlows, 

 n.sp., from Tsu-shima, an island between Japan and Korea, and P. viperimi^, 

 n.sp. from Japan. 



The second paper has has the title " Ueber die von Herrn Dr. Neumann 

 in Abessinien gesammelten aulacop')den Nacktschnecken (Zool. Jahrh. 

 (Abth. f. Syst.), 1903, Bd. 19). Of the three families discovered, viz., the 

 Va'/inulidae, Lihiacidae, and Uroci/rlii/ae, the concurrence of which in thu 

 Abessinian highlands presents a most remarkable circumstance, the VcKjinu 

 lidae are reserved for a later occasion and only the genera A<jHolirna.f, 

 Afoxon, and Spirotoxon are dealt with. The following are described as new .■ 

 A'/riolimax afer, icafaderensia, f/arduUanus, (jo/anus, (j/atuhdosus, Iwschayius, 

 Ic.jntanus, conct'ementoMH, kaffanu% abex><i7U<-u>^, declcni, giinirranus, fuscus, 

 and Umacoides, the latter as the link between A/jriolimax, Morch, and 

 Lehmannia, Heyn. 



After Dr. Sim-oth's recent description of a similarly large number of 

 species of this genus from the Caucasus (Die Nacktschnecken des Russischeii 

 Reiches, 1901), where he locates the centre of origin of the genus, il 

 certainly surprises me to see described such a variety of species from 

 a very distant district, without an example of any of those of the Palae- 

 arctic region. Dr. Simroth, however, does not fail to give an explanation, 

 he considers the dififi-ulty to be very simply solved by the Pendulum theory, 

 which has been defended and perfected by him. The theory of the pole of 

 oscillation between Sumatra in the east, and Equador in the west ; the only 

 points in the world which have retained their equatorial position from early 

 times, and from which the remains of ancient species existing then in refuge, 

 could spread accordiiig to the tem{)orary changes in the formation of dry 

 land along the equator again, and from there northward-; and southwards, 

 according to Dr. Simroth. 



