4i8 



THE OCEAN WORLD. 



The internal organisation of Limax is analogous to that to be 

 described in the snails. The organs of taste and smell in the Lima- 

 ceans differ only slightly from those organs in Helix. They are said, 

 like the snails, to be 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 imderground, coming forth only at night and in the morning ; 

 especially 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 slugs are mostly herbivorous. They seek, above all, for 

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



Pig. 190. — Limax rufus (Liniiccus). 



are very voracious, and cause great ravages in gardens and young 

 plantations, 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 

 destniction. 



There are about fifty known species of the genus Limax. Some 

 are remarkable for their very striking colours. Limax ruftis \F\g. 190) 

 is common in woods, and well known for its large size and its colour 

 of rich yellowish red ; it is known all over Europe, from Norway to 

 Spain. 



Among the Limacidce not altogether destitute of external shells 

 we find Testacella haliotoides (Fig. 191), which is provided with a very 

 small shell placed at its posterior extremity, just over the pulmonary 

 cavity. This shell becomes more important in Vitrina, already spoken 



