UMAX TENELLUS. 73 



before the pvolongation of tlie second intestinal tract takes place, except that there 

 IS an indication of a, coecum or rectatlieoa at the coiumencenient of the rectum; the 

 STOMACH is short and broad and honeycombed in texture ; liver very soft and 

 spongy, and usually red in colour, the left lobe being the most obvious. ' 



The MANDIBLE or jaw is amber-brown in colour, 

 very convex, rather narrow, but with somewhat 

 elongate lateral limbs and straight ends, the lower 

 outer angle of each limb acute, the upper angle cor- 

 respondingly obtuse ; the median-beak well marked F on M Jll 

 and projecting boldly in front. Length one mill. J:S;^'l^l!^^^::^S:r 



The UNGUAL MEMBRANE of a specimen from the Harth, Leipzig, shows a dis- 

 tinctly tricuspidate median tooth; the laterals are unequally tricuspid; the endo- 

 conic_ cutting point being obsolete, but the ectoconic one strongly developed; the 

 marginals become aculeate, but near the lateral series still exhibit tliree cutting 

 points; the extreme marginals lose their inner cusp and become bicuspid, except for 

 a few teeth which show vestiges of a second ectocoiie near the base. 



■"0 



^^"^^ QQmm ^^^^ 



Fig. 9L — Representative denticles from a transverse row of the lingual teeth of Limajc tenellus 

 Mull, (highly magnified). 

 The animal collected by Dr. Simroth on the Harth, Leipzig, and the palate prepared by Mr. W. Moss. 



Malm figures two distinct and prominent ectocones on the extreme marginals, 

 but I have not been able to verify their presence in a well developed state in the 

 Leipzig specimen. 



The formula of a Leipzig specimen, supplied bv Prof. Simroth, shows 

 '.V"''"'V'''"'J^3 '^ 110=9,130. 



Food and Habits. — Thi.s little species is comparatively seldom 

 observed, owing to the prevailing ignorance of its habits of life, and it is to 

 be hoped that the claims of this species to rank as a British species will 

 be firmly established now that attention is drawn to these peculiarities. 



In Germany this slug is found on the piije-clad heaths or even in the re- 

 motest recesses of the great pine forests, where the ground is deeply covered 

 with dense accumulations of pine needles and where scarcely a single 

 blade of grass exists. On the fungoid growths, even in such places, Limax 

 tenellus is almost certain to be found if sought for in autumn, when the slug 

 is adult and the fungi at the highest period of their development. The 

 mushroom gatherers in Germany, collecting slugs for Dr. Simroth, find 

 L. tenellus to overwhelmingly outnumber j4?-/o« subfuscus and other species 

 frequenting the same situations. In other countries, at or towards the 

 limits of its geographical range, its habitat is not so restricted, and it may 

 be frequently met with in the woods composed of beech and other deciduous 

 trees. 



Limax tenellus is of active habits, and, according to Simroth, lives exclu- 

 sively on fungi, or, if the supply be restricted, becoming predatory or even 

 cannibalistic ; the Boletus is noted as especially preferred, while the poison- 

 ous red Agaric is also eaten on occasion. 



Reproduction and Development. — According to Simroth, this 

 species attains its full growth in October, living thence through the winter 

 even into the early spring. During the colder season of the year the 

 animals pair, and oviposition takes place in some suitable damp spot ; the 

 eggs, which are about two mill, in diameter, clear, transparent, and globular, 

 are placed in clusters of thirty or forty ; they hatch in a few weeks' time, 

 the young adopting a subterranean life and feeding beneath the surface 

 upon the mycelia of fungi quite into early summer, when they are about 



