12 TEST ACE A ATLANTIC A. 



Habitat ins. omnes (sec. Morelet et Drouet) ; vulgaris. 



In its comparatively small size, the extremely mucose and 

 variable L. agrestis has more in common with the L. gagatea 

 than with the other slugs which are here enumerated ; never- 

 theless, apart from every minor character, its total freedom from 

 a keel will at once separate it from that species. It is universal 

 throughout Europe ; and, according to Morelet and Drouet, it 

 occurs on every island of the Azorean archipelago. Morelet 

 registers a variety from Villafranca in S. Miguel, and another 

 from the valley of the Furnas. In Madeira it is by far the most 

 abundant of all the slugs which have hitherto been brought to 

 light, often swarming in open grassy spots of a high altitude ; 

 and considering that it has been placed on record in Mr. Lowe's 

 publications since 1831, it is surprising to me that Morelet 

 should not have been aware that it exists in the Madeiran 

 group, for, speaking of the four Limaces included in his 

 Azorean catalogue (which are the exact species found at Madeira), 

 he says ' A 1'exception du Limax agrestis, toutes les especes de 

 cette section se retrouvent aux iles Maderes.' It is certainly 

 true that Dr. Albers did not happen to meet with it, and so was 

 rash enough to omit it from his exceedingly inaccurate mono- 

 graph ; but Albers passed only a single winter at Madeira, and 

 collected a mere fragment of the species which had been ascer- 

 tained to occur ; whereas Mr. Lowe's researches extended over a 

 period of nearly fifty years, and the results, which had long been 

 made known, were readily accessible. Therefore I cannot under- 

 stand how any experienced naturalist should have endorsed the 

 evidence given by the former (who had had but a few months' 

 experience in the archipelago), in preference to that of the 

 latter. 



Genus 3. VIQUESNELIA, Deshayes. 

 Viquesnelia atlantica. 



Viquesnelia atlantica, Morel., Hist. Nat. des Acor. 139. t. 1. 



f. 1 (1860) 

 Drouet, Faun. Acor. 141 (1861) 



Habitat S. Miguel ; juxta Ponta Delgada, Furnas, et cset., 

 sub lapidibus, prsecipue in cultis, parce degens. 



This is the most anomalous of the Azorean Limacidce ; and 

 its interest is still further increased by the fact that the only 

 other member of the genus which has hitherto been brought to 

 light in a recent state (namely the V. Dussumieri, Fischer) is 

 Indian. In a fossil condition, however, the rudimentary remains 

 of a mollusk which would appear to be closely allied to (if not 

 actually identical with) the Azorean one were found abundantly 



