208 HALF-HOURS IN THE GREEN LANES. 



well known as the species just mentioned, but it is 

 much smaller and slenderer, and is marked with 

 longitudinal grey stripes, the foot (as the base of the 

 body on which snails and slugs crawl, is called) 

 being bordered with orange. The jaw is very 

 interesting (Fig. 151). The eggs of this species of 

 slug are phosphorescent for a fortnight after they 

 have been laid, and the student may see them in 

 the evening on the moist banks of the lanes, giving 

 out a pale light. 



The Limaces, or true slugs, chiefly differ from the 

 above by possessing an internal shell or plate, the 



Fig. 149. 



Testaceila haliotidea, showing diminutive Shell on end of body. 



exterior of the mantle-shield being marked with 

 concentric lines. The jaw is evidently framed for 

 a good purpose, and one cannot be surprised, on 

 seeing it, at the capacity for feeding possessed by 

 slugs. The largest of the limaces (Limax maximus) 

 is often five or six inches in length. Everybody 

 knows it, for it is very fond of frequenting our 

 cellars and damp corners, whence it issues during the 

 night on foraging expeditions, leaving its trail, how- 

 ever, behind it, in a silvery, iridescent slime, which 

 often leads to its detection and destruction. It hyber- 

 nates in the mossy crevices of trees, or in decaying 

 wood, and, in the spring, issues forth and deposits ite 



