190 



THE TOUNG NATURALIST. 



genus Arion may be easily distinguished from that of Limax by the former 

 having the respiratory orifice in the fore-half of its mantle, while the latter 

 has it in the posterior half. The Testacella differ from all the other slugs in 

 carrying their shells on the ends of their tails. Arion and Limax live entirely 

 in the open air and are herbivorous ; Testacella burrows underground, and is 

 carnivorous, feeding on earth-worms. We must take each of these genera 

 separately. Arion has four species : A: ater, A, hortensis, A, sub/uscus, and 

 A. Bourguignati ; Limax, nine species : L. gagates, L. marginata, L. flavus, 

 L. agestis, L. Icevis, L. tenellus, L. arborum, L. cinereo-niger, and L. maxi- 

 mus. (L. gagates and marginata have been classified in a sub -genus of 

 Limax known as Amalia, so that now we sometimes hear them spoken about 

 as Amalia gagates and Amalia marginata!) Testacella has two species : a 

 commoner one known as T. haliotidea, and one rarer, T. Mangei, 



I. Genus AUION. 



Arion ater, This is the common black slug of our gardens and fields, 

 though there are varieties belonging to this species which are not black. 

 Black, however, is the type colour. Its body is rounded in front, and atten- 

 uated behind, the mantle is finely shagreened, and the margin has a band, 

 usually of a yellow colour, with dark transverse lines, while the skin is covered 

 all over with coarse tubercles. A variety that is red all over is known as 

 v. rufa ; one that is yellowish all over v. succinea ; one that is completely 

 coloured of a dirty-white v. pallescens, and one of a purely white colour v. 

 albida. V. albolateralis has its back black, sides whitish, and a foot-fringe 

 of orange, the colours being sharply defined from each other ; v. bicolor, its 

 back dark brown with its sides yellowish or orange, and v. Braparnandi its 

 back and sides dark brown, and a yellowish or orange foot-fringe. 



A. hoetensis. — This species in much smaller than A. ater, and is banded 

 longitudinally, measuring when full-grown about 1£ inches in length. The 

 foot-fringes are coloured, and the mantle has usually a dark band running 

 through its middle, and one round its margins. The type is slaty-grey with 

 longitudinal stripes (bands) of black. There is a bandless variety, pale grey 

 in colour, and named v. grisea, one black with side bands of grey, v. nigra, 

 another deep grey with a blackish band on each side, v. pyrenaica, and yet 

 another reddish in colour and thick banded, v. rufescens. A. subfuscus and 

 A. Bourguignati have been but recently described as natives to England, and 

 any slugs found, thought to belong to either of these two species must be 

 examined with the greatest caution, and with the help of some one skilled in 

 slug-lore. Mr. Geo. lioberts states in " The Naturalists' Monthly " that he 

 that he has taken both of them in his garden near Wakefield, and probably 



