Miscellaneous. 



73 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



ON THE PARTIALITY OF SLUGS FOR FUNGI. BY C. RECLUZ, APOTHE- 

 CARY AT VAUGIRARD. 



It is well known in a general way that slugs commit great havoc in 

 gardens, meadows, &c. ; but no one to our knowledge has noticed 

 their taste for some species of Fungi*. 



The bites and perforations which are seen on these agamous vege- 

 tables are generally attributed to insects, because they are sometimes 

 met with upon gnawed fungi ; it is however to slugs that we must 

 principally attribute this havoc. The Limax rufus and Limax agrestis, 

 Lamk., are the mollusks in the environs of Paris which have fur- 

 nished the subject of this notice. 



Among the species of fungi attacked by the slugs above mentioned, 

 we remarked not only the Boletus edulis but also the Agaricus mus- 

 carius, a very poisonous mushroom, and the Agaricus phalloides, a 

 species still more formidable from the rapidity of its deadly effect. 

 The gray and lemon-coloured varieties of this Agaricus are, amongst 

 the species we have mentioned, those which they seem to like best, 

 and on which we see most traces of their voracity ; whilst they very 

 seldom touch the Boletus luridus, a species equally doubtful, and the 

 fragments of which, when exposed to the air, after having been re- 

 cently detached, take insensibly tints more or less dark till they are 

 the colour of starch dyed with iodine. May there not be a peculiar 

 principle in this one which keeps these animals away from it ? We 

 shall endeavour to investigate this hereafter. 



We have also remarked that these slugs make a hole in the stalk 

 of the above-mentioned fungi, gnaw their substance vertically, and 

 continue their work by devouring all the interior of the pileus, so 

 that the exterior surface alone remains untouched. It is not uncom- 

 mon to find two slugs of the same, or of different species, together 

 in one fungus. We have not yet observed any other species of 

 this genus, nor if any other mollusk live upon these vegetables ; and 

 for this reason we have thought it useful to make these observations 

 public, as a contribution to the history of these animals as well as to 

 that of fungi. — Revue Zoologique, 1841, No. 10, p. 307. 



UNIVERSITY OF GLASGOW. BOTANY. 



Dr. Balfour, the successor of Sir W. J. Hooker in the Chair of 

 Botany in the University of Glasgow, delivered the introductory lec- 

 ture to the course, on Tuesday evening, January 4th, in presence of 

 a crowded audience. The lecture embraced a review of the study 

 of natural history, its advantages, uses, and attractions, and was im- 

 bued with a spirit of ardour and enthusiasm which the lecturer is 

 evidently well calculated to infuse into his students. We augur 



* Slugs appear to like those fungi best which are of a firm and crisp sub- 

 stance. They are so fond of some species that it is difficult to procure a good 

 specimen. They attack Discomycetes as well as Hymenomycetes.- — Ed. 



