400 THE OCEAN WORLD. 



rayed in brownish furrows, its surface covered with a viscous glutinous 

 substance, which permits of the animal creeping up the smoothest 

 surfaces, locomotion being produced by the successive contraction and 

 extension of the muscular fibres of the feet. 



The internal organization of the Limax is analogous to that already 

 described in the snails. The taste and smell in the Limaceans 

 differ only very slightly from those organs in Helix. They are, like 

 the snails, deaf, and nearly blind. They love humid places ; they 

 lodge themselves in the holes of old walls, under stones, or half- 

 decomposed leaves, in the crevices of the bark of old trees, and even 

 underground, coming forth only at night and in the morning ; especi- 

 ally after soft showers in spring and summer. In the garden, after 

 one of these soft showers, many of these little creatures are sure to be 

 met with in the more shaded alleys. 



The Limax is mostly herbivorous. They seek, above all, for young 

 plants, fruits, mushrooms, and half-decayed vegetables. They are 

 very voracious, and cause great ravages in gardens and young planta- 

 tions, and many are the devices of the watchful gardener to destroy 

 them. Lime and salt are their abomination ; ashes and fine sand 

 they avoid. They dislike the noonday sun, and the gardener knows it ; 

 he arranges little sheltering tiles, or planks of wood and stone, under 

 which they retire, where they are surprised to their destruction. 



Fig. 191. Limax rufus (Linnaeus). 



There are thirty known species of Limax. Some are remarkable 

 for their very striking colours. Limax rufus (Fig. 191) is common in 

 woods, and well known for its large size and its colour of rich yellow- 

 ish red ; it is known all over Europe, from Norway to Spain. 



Among the Limaceans nearly destitute of shells we find Tesiacella 



