KEW ; ON TME MOCUS-THREAHS OF LAND-SLUGS. 



155 



being touched with a knife, a thread three to four inches long was 

 drawn from it. 



A. minimus. — Of ten specimens tried on needle-furze, one reached 

 the table without falling, with 8| inches of thread; the rest (with the 

 exception of one which remained on the twig) fell with short threads, 

 as did others observed subsequently. 



A. hortensis.— Of this slug I tried a 

 number of nearly full-grown specimens, 

 none of which made a long thread. The 

 one shown in fig. 6 reached a new support 

 after a descent of 7| inches. 



A. circumscriptus. — In a number 

 of trials, under various conditions, both 

 young and adults allowed themselves to 

 drop either without threads or with short 

 ones. One, kept in a tin for fourteen 

 days without food, descended 6h inches 

 to the side of the vase in Avhich the twig 

 was held. As the slug alighted the thread 

 became attached to the new support and 

 it remained, after the slug had crawled 

 away, stretched from the twig to the vase. 



Geomalacus maculosus. — A few 

 half-grown specimens (received from Ire- 

 land, through the kindness of Dr. Scharff 

 and Mr. Roebuck) were tried on needle- 

 furze. One reached the table with eleven 

 to twelve inches of thread; but the others 

 fell soon after leaving the twigs. 



Part III. 



INIany of the slugs observed by authors 

 are unnamed, and it is dilificult to identify 

 others for which names are given. We 

 have, however, observations for seven- 

 teen to nineteen species, representing 

 seven genera and three families : 



LIMACID.E. 



Limax maxiiniis^ 

 L. flaviis, 

 L. arbo7it)ii^ 

 L. fulvus, 

 Amalia sotverbyi, 



Fig. 6. 

 Arion hortensis tlescending from 

 a twig ; drawn from life by ihe writer. 



A. gagafes, 

 Agrioli?nax agrestis, 

 Agr. Icevis, ^ 



Agr. campestris, V 

 Agr. americanus. ] 



