82 LAND AND FRESH-WATER MOLLUSKS. 
relative proportion of the shield and body. Its 
general colour is lead-grey, tawny, dark red, or 
even black, becoming paler towards the sides, and 
near the margin of the foot almost white. The 
shield, usually of a darker colour than the body, 
is oblong, rounded behind, and somewhat trun¬ 
cate in front, much larger than in L. Sowerbii . 
The respiratory orifice is placed nearer the centre 
than in that species. When at rest, the strongly 
carinated back is beautifully arched ; it then as¬ 
sumes a more rounded form than any other slug, its 
height scarcely exceeding its length. It is more 
than two inches in length when in motion. The 
slime is colourless, thick, and glutinous. The 
eggs are transparent and globular, and appear 
to be deposited during the winter, or at the close 
of the autumn. It is a shy and retiring species, 
seldom venturing from its retreat in dusk or 
during dull weather. Like the others of its race, 
it is very pernicious and destructive to tender 
plants. 
Limax gagates is a littoral animal; in Great 
Britain it is attached to the neighbourhood of 
the sea. On the continent, from the department 
of Finisterre, in France, it follows the sea borders 
of Morbihan, Charente-Inferieure, Gironde, &c., 
passes into Spain and Portugal, and appears on 
the shores of the Mediterranean in many places 
in Italy, Sicily, Algeria, Morocco, &c. 
