380 MRS. J. LONGSTAFF ON THE HABITS 



held the smaller ones. Thus the two latter had evidently 

 hatched from the eggs after they were laid. I did not ascertain 

 the exact numbers at first, as I was afraid of disturbing them, 

 but I now counted seventeen young molluscs and about fifty eggs, 

 many of which were cracked. 



May 4th. — I discovered that var. fulgurata had deposited two 

 living young ones, which were buried in the soil, withoiit any 

 eggs or fragments of egg-shell associated with them. These died 

 that day when on a visit to the British Museum (Nat. Hist.), 

 where a drawing of one was made. 



May 7th. — Var. fulgurata laid about seventy eggs near the 

 surface, without any living young molluscs. 



May 15th, 16th, 17th, 21st, 22nd, and 25th.— On each of these 

 days an egg hatched, thus there were six young var. fulgurata 

 from the eggs laid on the 7th. Some of the other eggs cracked, 

 but with one exception no more molluscs came out. 



Juiie 1st. — This one hatched, but th'e animal died immediately 

 and the shell was cleared out, either by Agriolimax agrestis Linn, 

 (which had been introduced, probably on lettuce) or else by its 

 brethren. 



September 9th, 11th, and 12th, 1915. — The larger specimen of 

 var. obesa was observed to have deposited another brood. On 

 each of these days a single young mollusc appeared on the sur- 

 face. I then scraped up the soil gently, to the depth of one or 

 one and a half inches, and discovered nine additional young ones. 

 Ten were about the same size, while two were smaller — there 

 were no eggs or fragments of egg-shell. 



October 8th. — Two additional young ones were observed with 

 the parent. It is not evident whether these were overlooked 

 before (for young shells, when covered with soil, greatly resemble 

 pebbles), or whether they had been deposited more recently. One 

 was of about the same dimensions as that of the medium size, and 

 the other was about equal to, or rather less than, the smallest of 

 the previous ones. 



October 31st, 1916. — This brood was entirely killed by a single 

 specimen of Arion hortensis, which I found beside them. Thus 

 they existed little more than a year. 



Hibernation and Mortality. 



May 7th- July 13th, 1914. — The var. fulgurata, after laying- 

 eggs, formed an epiphragm and between these dates buried itself. 

 Then it came up at night and ate lettuce, but went below during 

 the day, and continued doing this for about a fortnight, when it 

 remained completely buried till the beginning of October. At 

 this time it rose, and died on November 26th, after having been 

 in confinement eight months. 



Winter, 1914-15. — The four young var. fulgurata, Avhich alone 

 were living, commenced to hibernate in October and remained 

 below till March 4th, One, however, had protruded its head 



