THE SPOTTED GARDEN SLUG. 



CONTENTS. 



Plants and plant parts injured 3 



What the slug looks like 3 



History and distribution 4 



Food and haunts 4 



Nature and extent of injury 5 



Habits... 5 



Page. 



Description 6 



Development 7 



Hibernation 7 



Natural enemies 7 



How to abate the slug nuisance 7 



PLANTS AND PLANT PARTS INJURED. 



THE SPOTTED GARDEN SLUG (fig. 1) in recent years has 

 attracted considerable attention by its depredations in gar- 

 dens, greenhouses, and mushroom beds. Its fondness for fungi 

 makes it a serious pest when once it has gained access to a mush- 

 room house. In a greenhouse its attack usually is confined to young, 

 tender seedlings, but ornamentals are rendered unsightly and un- 

 salable by the trail of mucus which exudes from the animal's body, 

 as it crawls from place to place. It frequently is abundant in gar- 

 dens, especially in cool, damp seasons; often causing serious loss to 

 growers of such plants as celery, lettuce, peas, and beans. 



WHAT THE SLUG LOOKS LIKE. 



The spotted garden slug is one of the largest land mollusks of 

 its kind and often attains a length of 7 inches when fully extended. 



1 Thirty-two species of garden slugs have been reported for the United States. Of 

 these, four are introduced forms. Most of the native species are comparatively harm- 

 less so far as thoir ravages on crops and gardens are concerned. The conditions pro- 

 duced by the opening of the land for agricultural pursuits have effected decided hard- 

 ships and forced thpm into the background. The larger west American slugs, however, 

 some of which attain almost a foot in length, are occasionally an exception to this rule. 



The real pests of our gardens, cellars, and wells are three introduced species, the 

 spotted garden slug, Limax maximus L., ably discussed in this bulletin ; the tawny 

 garden slug, Limax flavus L., which is a smaller species rarely attaining a length of 

 over 4 inches, and readily distinguished from the larger spotted garden slug by having 

 the body of a more or less uniform dusky yellow shade with obsolete lighter yellowish 

 spots and a tawny yellow shield and bluish tentacles, and the true garden slug, Agrioli- 

 max agrestis L. The last is probably the greatest pest of all the slugs in our country at 

 present. It is a much smaller species, scarcely exceeding an inch and a half in length 

 and much more often scarcely attaining an inch. It varies from uniform whitish 

 through pale ochraceous, sometimes to lavender, purplish, or even almost black, with 

 mottlings and specklings of various shades of brown. This little form, on account of 

 its small size, can hide away in crevices to a much greater extent than the larger 

 species, and therefore it is exceedingly abundant in city gardens, where it outnumbers 

 the larger forms probably by 20 to 1. This may be considered the most important of 

 the destructive slugs in our country at the present time. On account of its smaller size 

 it has been transported more frequently to the interior than the other two species, which 

 at the present are still largely distributed coastwise. 



The remedies suggested for the destruction of the spotted garden slug will apply to 

 any of the American species as well as to the other introduced forms. It may be well to 

 add that, in the case of cisterns, wells, and cellars, sulphur fumigation has proved 

 effective. PAUL. BAUTSCH. 



