LIMAX MAXIMUS. 



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Fig. 52. — Internal shell of 

 Litttax jiiaxiiniiS L., X \\. 

 Christchurch, Hants. 



Dr. Seharff has also indicated a ready method of discriuHuatiou to be by 

 touching the front of the mantle, which the animal at once raises up anil 

 almost inverts. This peculiar action does not occur with L. margiiiatus, 

 in which the mantle is more intimately united with the body. 



Description.— Animal with a long ami slender HODY, tapering towards the tail, 

 and varving in length from 100 to 150 mill., Init oeeasionally reaching to even 2(JU 

 mill. ; usnally of a yellowisli-grey or cinereons gronnd colour, varionsly liancled or 

 maculated with black, but sometimes nnicolorous ; BODY rounded, but keeled towards 

 the caudal end, with about forty-eight longitudinal rows of elongate, detacheil 

 tubercles; NECK pale, with two conspicuous DORSAL FURROWS enclosing a single 

 row of elongate tubercles and terminating in front as the FACIAL (iROOVES ; SOLE 

 uniformly pale ; FOOT-fringe pale with a row of itiinute subniarginal blackish 

 tubercles; TKNTACLES very long ami slender; shield oblong, about one-third the 

 total length of the animal, rounded in front, angular behind, and forming an angle 

 of about HO deg. when in motion, usually of a similar tint to the body, Imt lioldly 

 marbled or maculate with black, somewhat concentrically and interruptedly lidgti'd 

 around a sub-posterior nucleus. Mucus colourless and iridescent, not very adhe- 

 sive, and less plentiful than in L. flaous or L. marginatas. 



Shell placed Iteneath the hinder part of the .shield „ 



and perceptible through the skin, oblong-oval, thin, of a j)?; \ 



whitish colour, slightly convex above, and correspondingly .'i ' J 



concave beneath, witli a membranous margin; APEX or '' -i 



nucleus at the posterior )nargiu liut inclined towards the \_j^ 



loft side, and forming the apophysis by which the shell is 

 organically attached to the animal. Length, 13 mill. ; 

 breadth, 7 mill. 



Internally, the nervous system is coitiposedof the typical ganglia; the pedal 

 ganglia are placeil beneath the radula .sac and joined togetiier by an anterior and 

 a posterior connnissure ; the abdominal ganglion lies a little to the right of the 

 median line ; the visceral ganglia occupy the angle between the lingual sheath 

 and the nsophagvrs, and the buccal ganglia are widely separated but joined together 

 by a commissure nearly as thick as the ganglia themselves. 



The OLFACTORY SENSE is chiefly lodgeil in the tentacles, yet according to Simrotli 

 there are within the mantle chamber well-marked vestiges of the primitive smelling- 

 organ or OSI'HR.ADIUM in the form of a sim]de yellowish ridge funiisheil with a 

 ilouble fringe of nerves and placed to the left of the anal aiierture. 



The REPRODUCTIVE ORtiANS are simple ; the 

 OVtyrESTis or hermaphrodite glanil on left upper 

 siile of liver, is very large, narrowly linguiform, 

 many lobed, with very small, rounded, darkly 

 pigmented follicles ; DUCT long, slender, and 

 straight above, thickened and sinuous below, 

 usually white; ALliUMEN (ILAND large lobed, of 

 an amber colour and placed on light side along 

 the crop ; OVISPERMATODUCT long and com- 

 paratively narrow, only slightly connec'ted to- 

 gether in the lower half and sometimes naturally 

 disjunct, resembling J/nmi.r fiiimi^ in this re- 

 spect; OVIDUCT portitju puckered into short, 

 rouniled segments; si'ERM-DUCT thick, cream- 

 white, most conspicuous below; free-o\'Iuuct 

 short, the lower thickened part furnished intern- 

 ally with annular glands ; SPERMATIIKCA club- 

 sha|ieil, blotched with opaque-white and amber, 

 its crown Ikxed by muscular threads to ovisperma- 

 toduct, its stem short, joining free o\ iilnct at its 

 very base; I'KNls-siiE.vril long, uiiperlialf opaque- 

 white, thickened ami rigidly convoluted, lower 

 half narrow, semi-transparent white, tiugeil with 

 bluish or brownish near external oi ilice, ami fiii- 

 iiished with a crest interiorly, which is most pro- 

 nounced at the up]ier end, its retractor, which is 

 the chief cause of the sjiiral twisting of the penis 



when protruiled, is a stout band .uising from left side of root of columella retractor 

 and attached terminally to penis sheath ; VAs deferens enters close to retractor 



gnns 



Fig, 53. — Sexual 

 maA'itiiiis L. 



(Iltvcrley, Vurks., Mr. J. IJ. Lullurell). 



ali'.g. alljumen gland ; 07'. oviduct ; vi. 

 o\ott-stis ; fi.s. penis sheath ; r.m. retrac- 

 tor muscle; sp. sperinatheca ; -j'.d. \as 

 deferens. 



