AGEIOEIMAX AGRESTIS. 107 



Reproduction and Development— Unlike its ally A. Iwvis, which 

 in the course of its sexual development is so markedly proterogynous, our 

 A. agrestis shows a distinctly proterandrous tendency. 



It is a_ species easily excited to sexual impulse, and very prolific, multi- 

 plying with great rapidity and under favourable circumstances breeding 

 almost continuously throughout the summer months, producing numerous 

 generations, as renewed intercourse may take place three or four days 

 after a period of egg-deposition; a pair kept in confinement were actually 

 depositing their third batch of eggs before the first were hatched, and a 

 single pair have been observed by Leuohs to deposit the enormous number 

 of seven hundred and seventy-six eggs during the season. 



The act of conjugation usually takes place in th-e evening throughout 

 the whole year, even when the thermometer verges upon freezing point, 

 though more freely indulged in during the summer months, and is always 

 preceded by a prolonged circular procession, which, through seasonal or other 

 influences, may continue for only half-an-hour, or may be persisted in for 

 one hour or more ; during this performance milky slime is copiously given 

 ofi", forming thick circular patches, one or two inches in diameter, which 

 afterwards indicate the spot where congress has taken place. 



Animals seeking to pair, on approaching each other, immediately begin 

 the circular promenade, the head of the one animal being laid upon or in 

 contact with the tail of the other, the animals gradually getting closer 

 together, and stroking and patting each other with the exserted excitatory 

 organ or sarcobelum, which is waved about excitedly in a ludicrous manner, 

 and agitated in many sportive ways; the animals also fondle and caress 

 with their tentaclqs, or even entwine together the anterior part of their 

 bodies, these blandishments leading up eventually to the final consumma- 

 tion, which is very transient, not usually occupying more than a few 

 seconds, during which period the seminal element, mixed with mucus and 

 worked up into a little ball, is transferred bodily, the forerunner of a true 

 spermatophore. 



The eggs are usually round, pellucid, bluish-white, and about two mill, 

 in diameter, but vary somewhat in both size and shape, even in the same 

 batch. They may be found at all seasons of the year, even in January, 

 Van Beneden especially remarking that they are deposited all through the 

 winter months. They are placed under stones and rubbish, beneath 

 fallen trees, and other moist and shady places, usually in clusters, which 

 vary in number from about twelve to forty, or even more, and are said to 

 be laid fourteen to twenty days after sexual intercourse, but according to 

 Mr. E. J. Lowe,. who has kept this species in captivity, only five days 

 usually elapse before egg deposition takes place. The hatching occurs in 

 three or four weeks' time, varying somewhat according to the weather. 



The young grow very rapidly, doubling their size and weight in a week's 

 time, and even growing during the winter months if the cold is not too 

 severe, attaining sexual maturity, pairing, and depositing eggs at a very 

 early age ; one pair was observed to breed and deposit eggs in sixty-six days 

 from the time of hatching, although full growth was not reached until the 

 animals were eighty-two days old. Their life cycle or period has not been 

 accurately ascertained, but in a state of nature does not appear to exceed 

 eighteen months. 



Economic Uses. — This species was formerly and is even yet in rural 

 districts much sought after as a cure for consumption and other diseases of 

 the lungs and chest.^ They may be employed in the form of a broth, or 



1 Monog, i., p. 428. 



