INSECTS AND OTHER ANIMAL PEsts INJURIOUS TO FIELD BEANS 977 
most of the remainder. Not only is the soil three or four inches below the 
surface much colder and more moist than the top inch, but also the deeply 
planted seed germinates more slowly in wet years. It is wise to force 
seed to germinate and grow as rapidly as possible, since it will have escaped 
serious injury when it is once above ground. If in shallow planting some 
of the beans are left on top of the ground, they may easily be covered with 
a hoe. A bean planter or a corn planter usually will give better service 
than a drill in wet years, for either is lighter and will not sink so deep in 
wet places. If a drill is used, it should be adjusted to make a shallow 
planting. A grower who plants his seed deep in wet soil at a time when 
the sexually mature flies are numerous, is sure to have a heavy infestation 
of maggots on his beans. 
THE IMPORTED FIELD GRAY SLUG 
(Agriolimax agrestis L.) 
ORIGIN 
The field gray slug, or garden slug (Agriolimaz agrestis, Plate LXIX, 6), 
is an imported species which, with two other foreign forms (Limaz maximus 
L. and L. flavus L.), does more damage and attracts more attention than all 
of the other twenty-nine species of slugs reported from the United States 
(White, 1918). A. agrestis is an old res dent of Europe, having been listed 
in England as early as 1674. Taylor (1907) reports it in the fossil rocks 
of the Pliocene and Pleistocene periods from many places in the British 
Isles, as well as from Germany and France. It apparently came to this 
continent from Europe early in the eighteenth century. 
HISTORY AND DISTRIBUTION 
Theobald (1905) states that Agriolimax agrestis is found in near'y every 
garden in England, and also on the continent of Europe and in Siberia, 
Madeira, and Algeria. Taylor (1907) states that it occurs also in Turkes- 
tan, China, Japan, Asia Minor, Morocco, Cape Colony, Zanzibar, Aus- 
tralia, and New Zealand, as well as in Brazil, Jamaica, and parts of Canada, 
on this continent. 
In the United States it was first reported near the seaports of Boston, 
New York, and Philadelphia. De Kay (1848) states that Binney knew it 
before 1843, tho Binney (1851) still had trouble in separating A. agrestis 
from the native species A. campestris, which it very much resembles. 
Since 1851 A. agrestis has spread gradually westward, and it is now found 
locally in many States. Its presence is reported in the literature of 
Maine, Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, Michigan, New Jersey, 
Ulinois, Wisconsin, Ohio, Colorado, Washington, and California, but it is 
probably present also in many other parts of the country. Slingertand 
discovered the slug at work on the college farm at Ithaca in 1891. Baker 
