248 



Kew : On the Pairing of Limax maximus. 



Cordon niu^uem. 



L'accouplement dura environ 13 minutes apres la reunion des penis, alors 

 qu'un liquide blanchatre, probablement le sperme, suintait sur les bords de 

 l'ombrelle. Puis les deux individus se separerent ; celui qui s'etait fixe par 

 un cordon muqueux resta en place, tandis que l'autre s'eloignait le premier. 

 Fig - . 3 is a copy of a drawing- which illustrates this account.* 



Mr. Adams, in July and August 1897, observed a number of 

 cases all of which occurred at night, between 10 p.m. and 2.30 



a.m. In one case, the animals were 

 suspended from a projecting beam in 

 an outhouse ; in another, from the 

 leaves of a currant bush ; in another, 

 from the branch of a yew tree ; and 

 in another, from a glass pane of a 

 greenhouse. A perpendicular wall or 

 tree-trunk, however, was the usual 

 situation : 



When the pursuer overtakes the pursued, 

 each touches with its tentacles the tentacles 

 of the other, after the manner of ants. Then 

 begins a circular procession, each with its 

 mouth at the other's tail, and this procession 

 lasts from half an hour to two hours and a 

 half. Careful observation leads me to suppose 

 that during- this performance each is eating 

 the external mucus from the other, for a 

 purpose which will presently appear. The 

 circle now grows more contracted, the slugs 

 overlapping and showing evident excitement, 

 the mantles flapping before and behind. Then, 

 suddenly, the slugs intertwine fiercely, and 

 launch themselves into space, head down- 

 wards, but suspended by a thick strand of 

 mucus, for the distance of 15-18 inches. This 

 mucus thread, which they seem to have been 

 collecting for the purpose, is of a yellowish- 

 brown colour, and does not seem to mingle 

 with the mucus on their bodies. The fall is 

 generally as rapid as if there were no support, 

 but is gently checked at the finish. On one 

 occasion, however, the fall was very gradual, 

 and during the descent the couple were busily 

 eating more mucus from each other's bodies. The thread appears to come 

 from their mouths, and runs along the centre of the foot-sole of each, 

 joining into a single thread where their tails intertwine. The upper part of 

 the thread is joined to the circular patch of mucus left on the wall where 

 their previous gyrations have taken place. 



Fig. 3.— After Laurent, 

 Bulletin de la Societe d'Etude 

 des Sciences naturelles de Reims, 

 IV. (1895), p. 25. Reduced. 



*J. Laurent, Observations sur I'Epeire et surle Limax cinereus [ = Li?nax 

 maximus], Bulletin de la Societe d'Etude des Sciences naturelles de Reims, 



IV. (1895), pp. 23-35. 



Naturalist, 



