LIMAX. 131 



A. Shield shagreened. 

 1. LIMAX GAGA'TES*, Draparnaud. 



L. gagates, Drap. Hist. Moll. p. 122, tab. ix. f. 1 ; F. & H. iv. p. 24, 

 pi. D. D. D. f. 3. 



BODY very slightly contracted and nearly cylindrical in 

 front, gradually tapering to a point behind, varying from 

 slate-colour to dark-red or even black, covered with small 

 oblong interlaced tubercles : shield oblong, somewhat trun- 

 cate in front and rounded behind, apparently divided into 

 two lobes, finely shagreened or grained : tentacles very short 

 and thick, not much swollen at their tips : back sharply 

 keeled its whole length, bordered with white or a lighter 

 colour than the rest of the body: slime nearly colourless. 

 L. 2-5. B. 0-35. 



SHELL oval, rather thick (especially in the middle), and 

 slightly wrinkled. 



HABITAT : Hedges and at the roots of grass and the 

 foot of old walls in many parts of Great Britain from 

 the Clyde district to Guernsey ; but it appears to be a 

 local species. It also occurs in the north, east, west, and 

 south of France, ranging to Corsica and Algeria, and 

 probably also to Naples. Mr. Norman has given an 

 excellent description of this species in the ' Zoologist ' 

 for 1853, and remarked that when at rest this slug as- 

 sumes a more rounded form than any other British 

 kind, contracting and squeezing itself into so small 

 a compass that its height is but little exceeded by its 

 length. Its slime is thick and glutinous, resembling 

 varnish. The apparent division of the shield into two 

 lobes, as noticed by Draparnaud, is owing to its being 

 indented behind by the keel. 



* Jet. 



