92 IjIMAX ARBORUM. 



Reproduction and Development.— The act of conjugation, which is 

 said to occur in the autumn and spring months, probably takes place during 

 the night, and does not appear to have been carefully observed or recorded, 

 as, except Mr. J. E. Daniels' casual remark that he has seen this species 

 suspended in couples during the pairing season, like L. maximus, we have 

 no particulars of the details of the act. 



The eggs, which are very similar to those of Z. maximus, are twenty to 

 thirty in number, oval in shape, very transparent and elastic, about five 

 mill, long and about four mill, iu diameter, deposited singly or in clusters 

 in the earth, under the bark of trees, amongst rotten wood, and other suit- 

 able places ; they hatch in about a month's time, the young being very 

 active, and usually of a reddish-violet or wine colour, with strong and well- 

 defined banding on shield and body, and becoming adult towards the end 

 of the first year. 



Food and Habits. — Essentially an arboreal species, and though perhaps 

 preferring beech trees on account of the wealth of cryptogamic growths 

 upon their stems, has been also noticed to frequent the hornbeam, the wal- 

 nut, the mountain ash, the alder, the elm, the willow, the ash, the apple, the 

 cra,b, and occasionally has been found even on pine trees. 



Though probably preferring trees, L. arhorum also frequents rocks, walls, 

 and a variety of other situations ; Prof E. Forbes records it as being found 

 plentifully on bare rocks at an altitude of 1,500 feet on the Connor Cliffs, 

 Dingle ; while Dr. Scharff has received specimens from the SkelHgs Rock, 

 a large, naked rock, off the Kerry coast, on which there is neither tree nor 

 bush, and which during westerly winds is entirely enveloped in a mist of 

 spray from the huge Atlantic waves which beat over a great part of it, and 

 Dr. Jeffreys found it under somewhat similar circumstances on the Out- 

 skerries, a remote cluster of islands of the Shetland group. 



It has also been noticed by Mr. J. G. Milne living upon the heather and 

 gorse in Western Mayo, and was seen by Dr. Scharff in county Cork feeding 

 upon lichens in comijany with Geomalnciis maculosus. 



L. arhorum is a hardy species and hybernates only during severe weather. 

 It ascends to over 8,000 feet in the Alps, and in the Pyr^n^es is one of 

 the characteristic species of the zone between 3,900 and 4,900 feet. In 

 Scotland it has been found on Ben Lawers, in Perthshire, at an altitude of 

 more than 3,000 feet ; and in Yorkshire up to 1,800 feet on Buckden Pike, 

 Wharfedale. 



Though L. arhorum during wet weather is extremely active in movement, 

 especially when young, it clings very loosely when crawling, and often 

 falls to the ground at the least touch. It is what is called a hygrometric 

 species, and has a great capacity for the absorption of water, drinking it 

 very greedily and absorbing it also by the skin, tilling the body cavity with 

 fluid, which imparts to it the peculiar transparent aspect that enables the 

 internal organs to be perceived through the skin ; this water reservoir is 

 said to be a provision against drought, but the water store is exuded freely 

 through the skin when the animal is irritated or touched. 



In continued dry weather the reserve of moisture is gradually expended 

 and the animal diminishes in size and loses its characteristic translucency. 

 At such times the animals show a very gregarious habit, and many indi- 

 viduals, with the object of conserving their body moisture, may often be 

 found huddled closely together in some sheltered nook or crevice, or they 

 may retire deep into the earth or beneath the shelter of dead and decaying 

 leaves, coming up to feed only during the night. 



