kEVV : ON THE I'vIUCUS-THREADS OF LAND-SLUGS. 163 



towards them, to relinquish their hold and become suspended u|")on threads which 

 would be gradually lengthened until the spikes were reached. 



44. Crawshay, De B. Slugs descetiding by a line of slime, Gard. 



Chrofi. (3), vol. 18, 1895, p. t6o: 

 . . . To-day my gardener pointed out to me a slug he had killed. The slug 

 was nearly three inches long; he had cj'ept up the glass, and did not know how to 

 get to an Odontoglosstini (07\laluiii that hung seven inches below him. He slimed 

 all around himself on the glass, a patch of two inches in diameter, and then let 

 himself down to the plant, touching the suspending wire in his descent. After he 

 had alighted, the rope of slime still hung from glass to plant. 



45. W. R. Slugs descending, Tom. at., p. 190. 



"Small white slugs" were seen descending from vines in a hothouse. 

 One lowered itself from a stick to a depth of a foot, and upon the 

 leaf which was used to entice it being removed, it turned in the air 

 and climbed up the thread. Tlie animals sometimes descended from 

 the vines more than three feet; but they "could only ascend a few 

 inches in a moist and warm vinery, when by repeatedly touching their 

 heads they were compelled to climlrup their own bodies to the thread." 



46. Blandford, E. Slugs descending, Torn, cit., p. 191 : 



I have seen them in the act many a time, especially amongst corn-stacks 

 at harvest-time. For instance, the last load of Wheat taken up after the dew has 

 settled on the sti'aw late in the evening may remain on the waggon all night, and 

 should the stubble be somewhat grassy, and slugs abundant, many of them would be 

 located at the butt-end of the sheaves; this end would be. placed outward on the 

 waggon or on the stack, and in either case would soon get dry. The slugs which 

 happen to be there find the surroundings uncongenial, and at once descend to the 

 ground by means of a line made of slime. 



47. Foreman. Tom. at, p. 191 : 



I have seen slugs descend . . . once at the Moat Nurseries, East 

 Grinstead, and once at Ilolmwood Park, Dorking. At the first-mentioned place, 

 the slug descended on to a Primula, and in the other on to a Cineraria. The 

 slugs descended from three to four feet to get at these plants. 



48. Thomson, W. Tom. cit., p. 216 : 



... I have caught this species [Z^. arbonini] coming down from a tree in 

 Knole Park, Sevenoaks. 



49. Woolford, C. Tovi. cit., p. 244 : 



. . I well remember calling my employer's attention ... as a slug 

 was descending over a Masdevallia. ... I saw a slug on the flower-spike of an 

 Odonloglossum, and in order to prove if tobacco would prevent them crawling up 

 the spikes, I placed a piece of *'shag" tobacco on each side of the slug, and after 

 going to and fro a few times, it let itself off very slowly by the slime from its tail. 



50. Taylor, J. W. Monograph of the Land and Freshwater Mol- 



lusca of the British Isles, vol. i, 1899, pp. 316-8. 

 Ag7\ agrestis seen by Mr. Crowther descending from an elm had 

 made seven feet of thread. An illustration, on p. 317, is based on 

 figs. 5 and 6 in the present paper. 



( To be contimied). 



