108 AGRIOLIMAX AGRESTIS. 



eaten alive by those who wish to obtain all the benefits that may be deriv- 

 able from this reputed remedy. 



For throat and chest affections a poultice of slugs is also said to be very 

 emollient and curative. 



Puton records that the peasantry of the Vosges regard A . agrestis as a 

 reliable barometer, and that the greater viscosity and abundance of the body 

 mucus, evidenced by the adhesion thereto of earth, leaves, and other ex- 

 traneous substances, is a sure sign of approaching rain. 



Food and Habits. — Agriolmax agrestis, though essentially a ground 

 slug, inhabits a great variety of situations, not only frequenting gardens, 

 fields, and hedgerows,- but also living in woods and forests, by dusty road- 

 sides, in marshy districts, and in the close vicinity of, or even within, houses 

 and out-buildings. 



The most curious, though doubtless temporary, habitat, is that vouched 

 for by Mr. W. Nelson, who in April 1866 observed numbers of these 

 animals crawling freely about beneath the water, at the bottom of Pebble 

 Mill Pool, Birmingham ; many of them were a considerable distance from 

 the margin, and all were moving about in an ordinary way. 



Its food is as varied as its habitats, as it is a truly omnivorous species, 

 nothing edible seeming to come amiss, and when food to its liking is avail- 

 able its voracity and appetite seem insatiable ; in such cases it has been , 

 known to eat the night through without intermission. 



It is exceedingly destructive in the garden, its ravages not being confined 

 to any particular plant or even to leaves, fl:owers, and fruit, as it devours 

 the roots with almost equal avidity ; like Arion hm-tensis, it is very partial 

 to strawberries, and is especially destructive to peas, devouring not only the 

 young shoots, but even the pods. 



In the fields the havoc wrought by this pest amongst oats, clover, peas, 

 tares, etc., is sometimes so great as to necessitate the re-sowing of the crop, 

 and almost entitles it to a place amongst the locusts, rats, mice, and other 

 plagues which at intervals devastate the country, and against which various 

 prayers and ecclesiastical exorcisms' were formerly employed. The Ritual 

 of Paris, a.d. 1712, which includes the slugs amongst the "worms," con- 

 tains definite formulas for such exorcisms. 



Efficacious practical means for destroying this slug have been earnestly 

 sought for, and many methods have been devised which are more or less 

 successful in their object. 



Quicklime, sawdust, soot, tan, ashes, chaff, and sand are amongst the 

 substances recommended to be spread over the ground they frequent ; 

 these substances when dry are impassable by slugs, as the multitudinous 

 particles adhere to the animals, which vainly endeavour by the exudation 

 of fresh mucus to get rid of the annoyance, and ultimately become ex- 

 hausted and die. 



Another method is to attract them to a circumscribed spot by sprinkling 

 slices of potato, little heaps of oatmeal, cabbage, or other leaves, with or 

 without greasy matter spread over their surface. The slugs are attracted 

 by the baits, and rest upon or near them, so are readily found and destroyed 

 during the fre(iuent visits that must be paid to the traps. 



Although not usually a fungus feeder, A. agrestis will, like the true 

 Limaces, at times feed upon various kinds of fungi, poisonous and edible, 

 Boletus edulis, Amanita muscaria, and ^1. phalloides, being especially 

 mentioned. 



1 Monog., i,, p. '134. 



