16 LIMACID^. 



declining to the end. The sole of the foot is dusky 

 yellow. The colour of the shield and back in this spe- 

 cies is very variable ; the individual we have figured 

 was of a yellow colour, closely and reticulately mottled 

 with black on the shield, and striped with four broad 

 black lines along the back. Frequently these black 

 bands are broken up into larger or smaller spots of dif- 

 ferent degrees of intensity. In some examples the ground 

 colour is reddish brown. The shell is comparatively large, 

 measuring usually five or six lines in length, and about 

 half that breadth, thin, depressed, slightly concave within, 

 more or less pearly, white, with usually a very slight 

 tinge of pink or cream-colour, and marked with rather 

 prominent lines of growth. In the more characteristic 

 examples, the extremity where the subcentral apophysis 

 of adhesion lies, is subtruncated ; the opposite end is 

 somewhat rounded, and often more attenuated. The 

 outer edge is membranaceous The straighter is the 

 more produced side. The mucus is colourless. The 

 eggs are very slightly oblong, about one-fifth of an inch 

 in length, and of a yellowish white tinge ; they are laid 

 in adhering clusters. 



This fine species is generally distributed through the 

 British Isles, and common everywhere in suitable places. 

 It may be found about houses, in gardens, and especially 

 under decaying logs of wood. When at rest, it (as seems 

 to be the case also with Lhnax flavus) does not contract 

 its body into a semicircle, like most of the Limaces, but 

 often curls its tail along its side, and withdraws its head, 

 so as to form an oblong mass. It appears to be generally 

 distributed over the European continent, and was one of 

 the first animals of its tribe that attracted the attention of 

 geologists and anatomists. 



