LIMAX. 23 



when crawling It is oblong-elongated ; when at rest the 

 keel rises suddenly and loftily above the shield. The 

 general ground colour is ochraceous or tawny yellow, on 

 which dots and clouds of grey and dusky are variously 

 disposed. The keel of the back is always pale or bright 

 yellow. The head is rather short, ash-grey above, with 

 two dark neck lines ; the tentacles are violet blue ; 

 the sides of the head yellow. The shield is oblong, 

 widening behind, obtuse at both ends, granulated all 

 over, ochry yellow with grey specks, a dark centro-pos- 

 teral line, and two lateral ones, which are curved and 

 connected towards its front part. The orifice is postero- 

 lateral. The sides of the back are always more or less 

 marked and clouded with dusky green, but the margins 

 of the foot are pale. The sole is grey centrally, definitely 

 edged with yellow. The reticulations of the back are 

 granulated. Two to three inches is a usual length for 

 this slug. The shell is very small, solid, flat or concave 

 above, convex beneath, without a conspicuous membra- 

 naceous margin. It is commonly from two to three 

 lines long. The mucus is colourless. 



In gardens and shady places around London, this slug 

 is common. It seems to get scarcer as we proceed north- 

 wards. Mr. Alder records it as found by Mr.W. Back- 

 house, near Benwell, in Northumberland. In Ireland, 

 Miss Ball found it at Youghal ; Dr. Ball finds it abun- 

 dant around Dublin. We have taken it plentifully at 

 Monkstown near Cork. 



A careful perusal of the description and inspection of 

 the figure given by Draparnaud, of the slug which he 

 proposed to identify with the mat^ginatus of Miiller, 

 scarcely permits us to doubt that this was the species in- 

 tended. To Ferussac it was communicated by Sowerby. 



