GEOMALACUS. 13 



respiratory orifice still more in front ; while a solid flat subovate 

 shell is developed within the shield, as in Limax. The body, inclu- 

 ding the shield, is comparatively smooth. Forbes and Hanley, and 

 Mr. Jeffreys, describe the back as being keeled, but one of the most 

 important characters of a negative kind, in which Geomalacus re- 

 sembles Arion more than Limax, is, that it is not keeled. 



A year previous to the discovery of Geomalacus in Ireland, 

 M. Morelet described under the name Limax anguiformis, a slug 

 of very similar character collected by him in Portugal. He makes 

 no mention of any shell. 



1. Geomalacus maculosus. Spotted Geomalacus. 



Animal ; about two inches in length, copiously mottled with yellowish 



or white spots. 

 Shell ; solid, flat, subovate. 

 Geomalacus maculosus, Allman (1846), Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist. vol. xvii. 



p. 297. pi. 9. f. 1 to 3. 

 Hdb. — County Kerry, west Ireland (among nioss and other plants, at the 

 shady bases of moist rocks) ; Andrews. 



The specific characters of G. maculosus, consists in its being 

 everywhere conspicuously mottled with yellow or white spots upon 

 a dark ground. Respecting its habits, Mr. Andrews, the disco- 

 verer, says : — 



" On the rocks of Oulough, near Lake Carogh, to the south of 

 Castlemain Bay, within a limited circuit, and at a distance of 

 about fifty yards from the water, the Geomalaci, on a misty or 

 showery day, may be noticed quiescently stretched, their richly 

 maculated character being strikingly conspicuous. On what they 

 feed I know not ; I never could detect them in the eating mood. 

 At the little Glen of Limnavar, on similar rocks at the same range 

 from the water, I again met with the Geomalaci, particularly a 

 white variety, but more sparingly than at Oulough." 



