MOLLUSCA INJURIOUS TO FARMERS AND GARDENERS. 205 



by having a slime-gland in the posterior extremity, and by having 

 the respiratory orifice in front instead of behind the shield. They 

 both feed at night, selecting the tenderest and choicest plants, 

 but they will devour almost anything. The Limaces are very 

 fond of indoor habitations, being found in cellars and outhouses. 

 They destroy the corks in wine-cellars, and do much damage in 

 that way; but, on the other hand, it is said they live upon the 

 destructive "dry-rot" fungus. They all exude a glutinous kind 

 of slime. 



The following species of snails have been brought to my notice 

 every now and then as doing much damage to farm crops and 

 vegetables : — 



The Garden Snail, Helix aspersa, Miiller, is a large and 

 abundant species, often doing much harm in the garden, not only 

 to vegetables, but even to wall-fruit. Several instances of the 

 total destruction of peach- and apricot-leaves by this snail have 

 been brought to my notice. The years 1884 and 1889 were 

 remarkable for the number of this snail seen about. The eggs 

 are laid in small batches in the earth, about sixty or seventy in 

 each heap. The ova are white, shining, globular bodies; they 

 hatch in about fifteen days, if kept in damp places. The young 

 snails are almost colourless, and the shell is thin and transparent ; 

 they grow rapidly. Drought and cold are erroneously considered 

 prejudicial to all snails: at the approach of winter they collect 

 together and exude a slimy matter, which hardens on exposure 

 and closes the aperture of the shell. They may then be found 

 hibernating together in crevices in walls, in old trees, and under 

 rubbish, united together by the agglutinated slime. I have notes 

 of the damage caused by this snail in most counties of the south 

 of England. 



H. nemoralis, Linn., is an extremely abundant snail in 

 hedgerows and upland pastures, and especially in clover, where 

 it often does much damage. It has a handsome 

 shell, subject to much variety in regard to colour, 

 and is very hardy. It is one of the first to make 

 its appearance in the spring, and often does 

 much damage to young turnips and lettuce as 

 well as clover. In the typical nemoralis the lip is black. The 

 colour of shell is extremely variable, being white, grey, pale 

 yellow, pink, or brown, with 1 to 5 spiral brown bands, occa* 



