AGRIOLIMAX AGRESTIS. ] 1 1 



in the Lower Pleistocene Forest bed at Cromer, in East Norfolk, and also 

 from the Upper Pleistocene gravels and brick-earths. 



In France it has been found at the base of the Loess, in the Pleistocene 

 fluviomarine sand (sable aigre) of Menchecourt, near Abbeville, in the 

 department of the Somme. 



In Germany, Sandberger reports it from the Middle Pleistocene tufa at 

 Cannstadt, Wurtemburg ; and Spiridion Brusina cites it as a Pleistocene 

 fossil in Moravia. 



HOLOCENE.— In Kent, this species has been found in deposits at Buck- 

 land, near Dover, by Rev. R. Ashington Bullen ; it has also been tabulated 

 or recorded for Maidstone, Charing, Darenth, Otford, Greenhithe, Exedown, 

 near Wrotham, and from alluvium at Seal, near Sevenoaks, by Kennard & 

 Woodward. In Surrey, the Rev. R. Ashington Bullen found it abundant 

 up to three feet deep in Colley Pit, Reigate. In Essex, it has been found 

 in the Lea Valley, at Witham, Braintree, Raine, Roxwell, Shalford, and 

 in the alluvium at Walthamstow, according to Kennard & Woodward, who 

 also record the finding of it by Dr. Frank Corner, in Post- Pliocene alluvium, 

 at New Park, near the White House in the Lea Marshes. In Berkshire it 

 has been found abundantly in beds of the Kennet Valley, Newbury, by Mr. 

 E. Percy Richards. 



Mr. G. E. Mason, in 1896, found many specimens of the shell within 

 Mitchelstown Cave, Tipperary, mixed amongst the fine red earth on the 

 floor of the "Long Cave," 600 feet from the entrance. 



In Germany, Sandberger records it from the Loess at Unterdiirnbach, and 

 Unterzell near Wiirzburg in Bavaria, and also at Grotzingen near Durlach 

 in Baden. It has also been recorded by Pini from the alluvium of San 

 Fedele, near Milan, in Lombardy, and by von Ihering in the tufa at Streit- 

 berg in French Switzerland. 



Variation. — Agriolimux agrestis, though usually offering a pallid 

 colouration, does, under certain environmental conditions, present very 

 varied pigmentation, and in this country, according to Dr. Norman, under- 

 goes seasonal variation, the individuals though perhaps creamy-white or 

 light-drab in the early part of the year, as the summer passes away assuming 

 a darker hue, with brown flakes more or less thickly scattered over the sur- 

 face, and during the autumn frequently becoming of a rich brown colour. 



The markings to which the species is subject are invariably constituted, 

 by irregularly distributed dark spots, or blotches, which occasionally more 

 or less overspread the whole body, and may at times become accidentally 

 ranged into some semblance of longitudinal banding. 



This absence of true banding renders it probable that the various banded 

 slugs which have been referred to A . agrestis by various authors, would be 

 more correctly allocated with Limax tenellus, L. arhorum, or other normally 

 banded species. 



According to Dumont & Mortillet, the pale varieties are peculiar to 

 forests and shady places, while those living in open situations are always 

 darker in colour. 



The variations in size are usually not very striking, but Mr. L. E. Adams 

 has observed that those found on the coast always attain a larger size than 

 those frequenting more inland localities, and Rev. S. Spencer Pearce espe- 

 cially remarked upon the diminutive size of specimens found at altitudes of 

 7,000 and 8,000 feet in the Engadine, Switzerland, while Kaleniczenko dis- 

 tinguished as var. ininuta the stunted forms inhabiting the Pontic region. 



