28: 



LIMAX TENELLUS IN BUCKINGHAMSHIRE AND 

 HERTFORDSHIRE. 



By CIIAS. OLDHAM. 



(Read before the Societj-, December gth, 1908). 



On August 30th I took several examples of Limax fefiellns on fungi 

 among the dead l)eech leaves in Halton Wood, near Wendover, and 

 subsequent search during September and October showed that this 

 slug is widely distributed and abundant in beech-woods on the chalk 

 downs of the Chiltern Hills in Bucks, and Herts. It feeds on various 

 fungi, including the malodorous Phallus impudicus, but is not re- 

 stricted to those growing on the ground, for at Watford and Berk- 

 hamsted Common I found it associated with L. maximus, L. 

 arlwrum and, curiously enough, with Avion subfuscus, beneath the 

 bark of decaying beeches; in one instance at a lieight of more than 

 ten feet from the ground. It is a remarkably active creature, and, 

 like Agrioliniax Icevis, will begin to crawl at once after being irritated 

 or molested, even when held in the hand, behaviour which contrasts 

 strongly with the lethargy of the A rlo//i dtp under similar circumstances. 

 With the exception of a specimen of the var. cijicta at Great Missen- 

 den all the examples of L. tenellus that I collected were referable to 

 /the var. cerea^ a name, by the way, which aptly describes the clear, 

 waxy appearance of the slug. The following is a list of the precise 

 localities in which I have actually taken Z. tenellus^ but, as they 

 represent practically every place in which I looked for it, they may be 

 regarded as merely representing and not as limiting its range in the 

 district. Associated with it in every locality were Avion ater, A. 

 sithfusciis and A. interniedius. Avion hovtensis and A. civaanscriptus 

 were also feeding on fungi in most of the woods, but these species 

 were less abundant than their congeners. At Great Missenden on 

 September 13th I took a single half-grown example of Z. cineveo-nigev 

 var. hedleyi. 



Buckinghamshire : — Halton Wood and Fugsdon Wood, near 

 Wendover; Ivinghoe Common; Penn Wood, near Amersham; Great 

 Missenden. 



Hertfordshire : — Berkhamsted Common and Ashridge Park ; 

 Whippendell Wood, near Watford ; High Scrubbs and Gearyshill, 

 near Trins;. 



