SLUGS AS MYCOPHAGISTS 



219 



emetica with avidity. 1 Dr. W. T. Elliott z has recently confirmed 

 and extended this observation, for in his experiments he has found 

 that Russula emetica is either completely devoured or eaten with 

 avidity by the following seven slug species : Arion ater, A. sub- 

 fuscus, A. intermedius, A. hortensis, Limax maximus, L. cinereo- 

 niger, and Agriolimax agres- 

 tis. However, Benecke 3 

 has observed that in cap- 

 tivity, in long-continued 

 experiments, such slugs as 

 Limax cinereo-niger and 

 L. empiricorum prefer the 

 milder Russulae, e.g. R. cyan- 

 oxaniha, citrina, alutacea, 

 lutea and integra, to the 

 sharper ones, e.g. R. emetica, 

 fragilis, sardonia and pec- 

 tinata. 



Pluteus cervinus, Inocybe 

 rimosa, Coprinus micaceus, 

 etc., contain numerous cys- . 

 tidia, those of P. cervinus 

 being provided with recurved 

 terminal hooks. Yet they 

 are all ravaged by certain 

 slugs. 4 It thus appears that 

 the cystidia are non-protec- 

 tive so far as slugs are 

 concerned. 



The fact that fleshy fungi in general are unprotected against the 



FIG. 78. Amanita muscaria, an agaric which, 

 although poisonous to man, is eaten 

 with impunity by slugs. A slug has 

 made a large hole in the pileus and a 

 smaller one in the stipe. Photographed 

 in Wyre Forest, Worcestershire, by 

 Somerville Hastings, f natural size. 



1 Researches on Fungi, vol. i, 1909, p. 229. 



2 W. T. Elliott, in Hit. His paper entitled " Some Observations on the Myco- 

 phagous Propensities of Slugs " is shortly to appear in the Trans. Brit. Myc. Soc. 

 In this paper Dr. Elliott states that on two occasions Arion ater died after eating 

 Russula emetica with avidity. To settle whether or not the slug was poisoned by 

 the fungus, it seems to me that further experiment is required. 



3 W. Benecke, loc. cit., pp. 465-466. 



4 Observations made by myself and by W. T. Elliott (in litt.). 



