PULMONARY GASTEROPODA 
403 
ru ght and in the morning. They show themselves especially after soft 
showers in spring and summer. In the garden, after one of these 
s °ft showers, many of these little creatures are sure to he met with in 
the more shaded alleys. 
The Limax is essentially herbivorous. They seek, above all, for 
y°ung plants, fruits, mushrooms, and half-decayed vegetables. They 
are very voracious, and cause great ravages in gardens and young 
Plantations, and many are the devices of the artful gardener to 
destroy them. Lime and salt are their abomination; ashes and 
hue sand they avoid. They dislike the noonday sun, and the 
gardener knows it; he arranges little sheltering tiles, or planks of 
^ood and stone, under which they retire, and then they are surprised 
their destruction by the too knowing horticulturist, and slain in 
hecatombs. 
There are thirty known species of Limax. Some are remarkable 
their very striking colours. Limax rufus (Fig. 198) is common in 
Fig, 198. Limax rufus (Linnaeus). 
^°ods, and well known for its large size and its colour of rich vermi- 
l0Q ; it is known all over Europe, from Norway to Spain. 
Among the Limaceans nearly 
destitute of shells we find Tes- 
* ac ella haliotidea (Fig. 199), 
v 'hieh is provided with a very 
s tQall shell placed at its pos- 
terior extremity, just over the pulmonary cavity. This shell 
ecomes more important iu Vetrina, already spoken of as forming 
jhe point of transition between Limax and Helix. This passage 
r °tti Limaceans entirely destitute of shells to those furnished with 
2 a 2 
Fig. 199. Testacella haliotidea (Drapavnaud). 
