OTHER DENIZENS OF THE WOODS 



Wood Lice. 



A somewhat similar, although smaller species ((?. inavginata), which also lives under 

 stones, is brilliant black, with yellow edges round the segments. All the species 

 of Glomeris have the power of rolling up their bodies into a ball, and are hence 

 known as pill-millipedes. 



The pill wood-lice, or garden armadillos, which have a similar 

 habit, belong to the Isopoda, a group of crustaceans. All isopods 

 have a somewhat flat body, with the thorax distinctly separated from the head. 

 and consisting of seven or at least six segments. On each segment of the thorax 

 there are two, and on the abdomen twelve pairs of legs, which are all of the same 

 shape, and serve for walking as well as for swimming. Isopods carry their eggs 

 beneath the thorax, and live, as a rule, in water. The wood-lice (Oniscidcv), on 

 the other hand, live on land in damp situations, and wander out at night to 

 seek for food, which consists of decaying or soft vegetable and animal matter. 



The com m o n 

 wood-louse is 

 known as A rma- 

 dillidium vul- 

 gare. 



Slugs. 



THE BLACK SLUG. 



The 



slugs 

 and snails of the 

 forest all belong 

 to that group of 

 molluscs in which 

 the eyes are 

 perched on the 

 summits of long 

 retractile ten- 

 tacles. On the 

 Continent the 

 best known slug is the large Arioii ater, a species living in warm, damp 

 places, usually on plants, and more especially among mushrooms. This slug, 

 so common in forests and gardens, is provided with a granulated shield, a 

 striped band on the foot, and irregular wrinkles on the upper part of the body. 

 In length it is from 5 to 6 inches, and in colour black or reddish yellow. The 

 common garden-slug (A. hortensis)is from H to 2 inches long, and either uniform 

 black or grey, or marked longitudinally with grey lines along the back. The 

 large garden-slug (Limax maximus), inhabiting both forests and cellars, is ashy 

 grey, spotted or striped with black, slightly keeled towards the tail, and has the 

 foot bordered with white. The length is from 3 to 6 inches, and the breathing- 

 hole lies behind the middle of the shield. In Umax and Avion what is left of 

 the shell is internal. In Limax it is traceable as a thin, flat elliptical plate, in 

 which the sudden thickening at one end is the nucleus representing the apex of 

 the cone. In Avion still less is left, the shell being present only in the form 

 of a few independent granules, which in some species have disappeared entirely. 



