282 MOLLUSCA. 



Famili/ LIMACID.E. 



Ge?t>ts Arion. 

 A. ater, Linn. 



La Bergerie, Queen's County ; County Gahvay ; Finnoe, County Tippe- 

 rary, Mr. "Waller. Too abundant in both places, varying from the light 

 yellow-coloured variety through all the shades of brown or ochre to deep 

 black. The brown variety seems to predominate in Killereran (County 

 Galway) meadows and woods, but I have repeatedly observed the two 

 colours indiscriminately mixed together in precisely the same localities, 

 both in fields and gardens. The yellow, which I have never taken of the 

 full size, is mostly confined to the decaying pieces of wood found among 

 damp moss. I have not noticed the variety with the scarlet foot, as in 

 fig. 2, torn. ii. Fer. Specimens brought alive, by Dr. Ball, fi-om the circular 

 road, ])ublin (A in/. 12), and taken Avithin a few yards, were black, with 

 black keel, — greyish-black, or rather blackish-grey, with orange-brown 

 keel, — fawn-coloured grey, with broAvnish-orange keel, — head and tenta- 

 cula blackish, very pale greyish-white, with orange keel, — head and tenta- 

 cula blackish : a very handsome animal. 



I have seen two individuals busily engaged devouring a snail (//. 

 aspersa), both their heads being introduced within the shell : the snail 

 appeared to be fresh killed. 



A. horfensis, Fer. 



La Bergerie and County Galway. By no means scarce. Ferussac's 

 figures agree accurately with mine, but are represented of larger dimen- 

 sions than any I have seen. I have taken the young of a very minute 

 size with the orange foot, and the colours equally as deep as in adult in- 

 dividuals. Var. a. f. 6, Ferus., is not more abundant here than the 

 orange-footed one, which I have never succeeded in finding at Killereran, 

 where the variety is common in violet-beds. The following from Ferussac 

 agrees curiously with my habitat : " EUe se cache le jour sous les tiges 

 de violettes de fraisiers et des autres plantes touff'ues." Mr. Alder re- 

 marks of the variety, " The variety only, if such it be, has yet been no- 

 ticed in this country." I have never discovered even the rudiment of a 

 shell in any of them. Finnoe, Tipperary ; and Annahoe, Tyrone ; Mr. 

 WaUer. 



N. B. I have before me at present an Arion, found along with A. hor- 

 tensis, var. /3. Pfeiff". The only character it possesses in common with it 

 is, in the position of a yellow-coloured fascia running round the body, 

 which is of a dusky brown, the sides greenish-yellow, the fascia becoming 

 indistinct on the shield. It diff'ers materially in colour from any variety 

 of the A. ater I have met with ; and what might characterize it as belong- 

 ing to this species is the shape and colour of the tentacles and head, the 

 former being much more elongated than in A. hortensis, and of a shining 

 black colour. The edge or side of the foot is likewise similar to A. ater, 

 being greenish-yellow, marked with the pecuHar transverse black lines. 

 Its mucus is yellow-coloured, whereas that of A. ater is whitish, or 

 colourless. Since writing the above, I have obtained a second specimen, 

 similar in every respect to the former, except the fascia, which is not so 

 distinct. 



