20 



BRITISH MOLLUSKS. 



3. Limax agrestis. Field Limax. 



Animal ; body cylindrically oblong, rounded on the back, keeled 

 towards the tail, reticulately wrinkled, yellowish grey, some- 

 times faintly, sometimes darkly mottled with red-brown, pale 

 semitransparent at the margin, head yellowish with a dusky 

 bine running towards each tentacle ; shield oblong, rather large, 

 concentrically striately wrinkled, respiratory orifice posterior. 



Shell ; oval, very small, almost flat. 



Limax agrestis, Linnseiis (1758), Sgst. Nat. iOth edit. p. 652. 



Limax ftlans, Hoy (1790), Trans. Linn. Soc. vol. i. p. 183. 



Limax sylvaticiis, Draparnaud (1805), Hist. Moll. p. 126. pi. 9. f. 11. 



Limax bilobatus, Ferussac (1819-21), Hist. Moll. p. 74. pi. 5. f. 10. 



Limax salicium, Boiiillet (1836), Moll. terr. etfluv. Auvergne, p. 18. 



Limax tunicata, Gould (1841), Report Invert. Mass acini setts, p. 3. 



Limax (Eulimax) agrestis, Moquin-Tandon (1855), Hist. Moll. vol. ii. 

 p. 22. pi. 2. f. 18 to 22, and pi. 3. f. 1, 2. 



Hab. Europe, Madeira, United States (in fields, woods, and gardens) . 



This little species of Limax, often called from the opake character 

 of its mucus, the Milky Slug, is well known as the most prolific and 

 mischievous of its class. It propagates with marvellous rapidity 

 and abundance, feeding voraciously on the leaves of vegetables, and 

 proving especially destructive among the newly bedded-out plants 

 of the florist. An hour or so after sunrise Limax agrestis may be 

 seen in the flower and kitchen gardens by hundreds, but by the 

 time the sun is fairly up, not one is to be found ; all have disappeared 

 untd twilight, and the dews rouse them to life and reaction. It is 

 about an inch to two inches in length, keeled towards the tail, of a 

 yellowish-grey colour, more or less darkly mottled with reddish- 

 brown. The shield in this and the remaining species of the genus, 

 loses the granulated chagrined character. When the animal is in 



