U LIMACID.E. 



Found plentifully at Greenwich marshes and other 

 places in the south of England. 



LiMAcnm 



ARION. Ferussac. 



Shell Oblong, generally of a soft spungy nature, but hardens 

 upon exposure to the atmosphere, situated in the disk 

 covering the anterior part of the body, undeveloped. 



Animal Somewhat cylindrical, lanceolate ; tentacles four in 

 number, two of which have eyes at their extremities ; 

 mantle elliptical. 



A. EMPIRICORUM. Ferussac. PL V, fig. 1. 



Body generally black, and somewhat grooved ; shield ovate ; shell 

 spongy. 



Limax ater, Linn. Arion ater, Gray. 



So abundant, that during wet weather the fields and 

 paths are strewed with them in all directions. They 

 are naturally herbivorous, though at times carnivorous, 

 and so voracious that they do a great amount of injury 

 to the farmer and gardener, who wage an exterminating 

 war with them and others of the mollusca family. It is 

 somewhat variable in colour according to the locality 

 and other natural circumstances ; the prevailing hue is 

 a slaty black, but it is occasionally of a reddish brown, 

 and sometimes almost white.* 



Hob. Woods, gardens, and moist places all over 

 Britain. 



A. FLAVUS. Mutter. PI. V, fig. 4. 



More elongated than A., empiricorum ; disk more oblong ; secreting 

 a yellow mucus. 



About an inch in length and of a whitish colour, ex- 

 cepting the shield and posterior parts, which are a faint 

 yellow. 



* The best way of preserving the land slugs for collections is in 

 spirits of wine. They can be deprived of life almost instantaneously 

 by pouring boiling water over them, which should be done while the 

 animal is stretched out. They should be then placed in a small glass 

 tube, one end of which has been closed, the tube filled with spirits of 

 wine and the other end closed. 



