53§ TH E SPINNING SLUG. 



fields and gardens were not their numbers abridged 

 by several of the smaller quadrupeds, and by va- 

 rious species of birds. 



They have so strong a tendency to reproduction 

 that, if the head or tail be cut off, these parts will 

 grow again. Most of the species can exist for a 

 great length of time, several months, without food. 



THE SPINNING SLUG*. 



About the year 1789, Mr. Hoy observed, in a 

 plantation of Scotch firs, something hanging from 

 one of the branches, which, as it seemed uncommon, 

 he approached, and found to be this animal. It was 

 hanging by a single line or thread attached to its 

 tail. This was, upward, very fine ; but near the 

 animal it became thicker and more broad, till at 

 length it exactly corresponded with the tail. The 

 slug was about four feet below the branch, and 

 nearly at the same distance from the ground ; 

 which it gradually approached at the rate of an 

 inch in about three minutes f. This rate, though 

 slow, is not so much so as might be expected, consi- 

 dering that the animal is not furnished with any 

 peculiar receptacle, as in some insects, for the glu- 

 tinous liquid from which its silken lines are formed. 

 The line by which it descended was drawn from 

 the slimy exudation gradually secreted from the 



* Synonyms. — Limax agrestis. Linn. Spinning Limax. Linn. 

 Tran. 



+ It has been observed by Dr. Latham to descend about three inches 

 and a half in a minute. 



