103 



NOTES MADE IN 1888 UPON 

 ARION ATER AND SOME OTHER SLUGS. 



H. WALLIS KEW, F.E.S., M.C.S.. 

 Stroud Green, London. 



The following is a summary of the writer's notes in 1888 relating 

 to the slugs. A brown specimen of Arion ater was kept in captivity 

 from May to October, notes being taken as to the substances upon 

 which it fed, etc., and a (ew other slugs were kept for shorter periods. 

 They were stored in a dark cupboard, in small glass jars. Pieces of 

 linen were stretched over the mouths of the jars, on which a few 

 drops of water were placed once or twice a day. The slugs often 

 cleaned the glass, as Limnaeae do in aquaria, and they gnawed holes 

 in the linen, and more than once escaped from the jars. 



Mr. Roebuck, the Conchological Society's recorder, has obligingly 

 examined and reported upon consignments of living slugs sent to him 

 from time to time, and it has been thought well to affix the mark ! to 

 indicate that the slug referred to, or in the case of collective state- 

 ments one specimen at least, has been seen by him. 



ARION ATER. 



This slug appears to creep out and feed during the day more 

 frequently than the other common slugs, with the exception, possibly, 

 of Limax agreslts* In the Lincolnshire marshes and fens in August 

 black specimens were frequently seen wandering about by the road- 

 and drain-sides, and the following notes as to their food were made: — 



At Tetney, about 2 p.m. : one feeding on leaf of Sonchns asper: 

 cloudy. 



At Bourn, about 3 p.m.: one feeding on wart-cress {Senebiera) : 

 cloudy. 



At Gosberton, between 9 and 10 a.m. : considerable numbers 

 crawling in a ditch; one feeding upon a small fungus, another upon 

 a daisy leaf: cloudy. 



At Quadring, about noon : a number moving by the sides of the 

 drains ; one eating a hole into a leaf of Plantago major : bright, a 

 heavy shower in the early morning. 



In moist places amongst /uncus, Ranunculus flammula, and 

 Mentha aquatica in Grisel-bottom, Burwell Wood, Lincolnshire, fine 

 adults of the brown form (v. brunnea !) crawl about or remain at rest 

 generally unconcealed all day long. They exhibit but little colour 



* See Mr. Daniel's observations on the diurnal habits of Liviax cinereo-niger in 

 the forests in the neighbourhood of Heidelberg. Quart. Journ. of Conch. , i. 112. 

 April 1889. 



