418 THE OCEAN WORLD. 
The internal organisation of Limax is analogous to that to be 
described in the snails. The organs of taste and smell in the Lima- 
ceans differ only slightly from those organs in Helix. They are said, 
like the snails, to be deaf, and nearly blind. They love humid places; 
they lodge themselves in the holes of old walls, under stones, or half- 
decomposed leaves, in the crevices of the bark of old trees, and 
even underground, coming forth only at night and in the morning ; 
especially after soft showers in spring and summer. In the garden, 
after one of these soft showers, many of these little creatures are sure 
to be met with in the more shaded alleys. 
The slugs are mostly herbivorous. They seek, above all, for 
young plants, fruits, mushrooms, and half-decayed vegetables. They 
hig. 190.—Limax rufus (Linnzus). 
are very voracious, and cause great ravages in gardens and young 
plantations, and many are the devices of the watchful gardener to 
destroy them. Lime and salt are their abomination ; ashes and fine 
sand they avoid. They dislike the noonday sun, and the gardener 
knows it ; he arranges little sheltering tiles, or planks of wood and 
stone, under which they retire, where they are surprised to their 
destruction. 
There are about fifty known species of the genus Limax. Some 
are remarkable for their very striking colours. imax rufus (Fig. 190) 
is common in woods, and well known for its large size and its colour 
of rich yellowish red ; it is known all over Europe, from Norway to 
Spain. 
Among the Limacide not altogether destitute of external shells 
we find Zestacella hatiotoides (Fig. 191), which is provided with a very 
small shell placed at its posterior extremity, just over the pulmonary 
cavity. This shell becomes more important in Vtrina, already spoken 
