THE MOLLUSKS OF OUR CELLARS. 167 
character has been seized to found families upon, and thus 
far the conchological world is but little the wiser for it. 
Our cellar mollusks are all nocturnal in their habits. They 
lie quietly stowed away in some crack or crevice of the walls 
during the day. At night they sally forth in Fie. 49 
pursuit of food and to enjoy the company of «qu 
their kind. They feed on vegetable matter — 
refuse from the kitchen, decaying vegetables Jaw of Limaz flavus. 
or fruits —or on Indian meal, flour, or anything they are 
lucky enough to find. They even devour animal food, and 
in confinement have even been accused of cannabalism. 
When one comes to know how well adapted their mouth is 
to eating, it becomes a wonder that our mollusks leave any- 
thing uneaten. For the mouth of each individual mollusk is 
Fig. 43. 
Half row of teeth of Limar flavus, 
armed at its entrance with a sharp, stout, pointed process, 
called a jaw, for want of a better term. This falls, portcullis- 
like, on the food of the animal, and cuts off pieces into his 
mouth. We give here a figure of the jaw of Limax flavus 
one of the species mentioned below (Fig. 42)." Once in the 
mouth the food is taken hold of by a long, broad, ribbon-like 
membrane, generally called a tongue. The whole surface of 
this tongue is covered with sharp, tooth-like processes run- 
ning in transverse rows. These small, sharp teeth rasp 
quickly the food and carry it forwards towards the stomach. 
Short work they must make of it, for the number of these 
tooth-like processes is very great, counting as high as eighty 
thousand in some species. We give here a figure of one- 
half of one transverse row of teeth on the tongue of the same 
species whose so-called jaw is already figured (Fig. 43). To 
