«L I M 
ftigftther. Calyx: perianth inferior, fhort, of fix aeate 
leaves, the alternate ones fmaller, arranged altogether ho¬ 
rizontally in a triangle. Corolla: petals three, triangular, 
almoft ere (ft, longer than the calyx ; neftary equal to the 
calyx, divided into fix roundifh concave flelhy feg- 
ments. Stamina: filaments fix, very fhort, each placed 
upon a fegment of the neftary, and altogether forming a 
triangle; anthers of two cells, roundifh. Female flowers 
axillary, in pairs, on a feparate plant. Calyx: as in the 
male. Corolla:, petals fix, roundifh, curved, unequal; 
neftary equal to the calyx, divided into fix turbinate 
connivent fegments. Piftillum : germen fuperior, fome- 
what triangular; ftyle none; ftigmas three, many-cleft, 
fpreading. Pericarpium: drupe flefliy, rather kidney- 
fhaped, containing a fingle feed. Nut fpirally furrowed 
like a fcrew, the kernel Ample.— EJfcntial Cha.ra. 6 ler. Male; 
calyx of fix leaves ; corolla of three petals. Female, calyx 
of fix leaves; corolla of fix petals; ftigmas three; drupe 
kidney-fliaped, fpiral. 
Limacia fcandens, a fingle fpecies; the cay-me-ga of the 
Cochin-chinefe, and found in the woods of Cochin-china. 
Stem fhrubby, climbing, without tendrils, long, much 
branched. Leaves alternate, ovate-oblong, acuminate, 
entire, fmooth. Flowers both male and female, yellowifh- 
green. Drupe fmall, fmooth, acid and ef'culent. Lou- 
reiro's Cochin-china. 
LIMADPSI, a town of Curdiftan, on an ifland in Lake 
Van. 
LIM^jE'A, in ancient geography, a river of Lufitania. 
Strabo. 
LIMAPL.yi The filings of metal. 
LIMA'LE, a town of France, in the department of the 
Z>yle: fifteen miles fouth-eaftof Bruffels, and twelve fouth 
of Louvain. 
LIMASO'VA, one of the fmaller Philippine iflands, 
gjear Leyta. Lat. io. i. N. Ion. 115. a. E. 
LIMASSO'L. See Limisso. 
LIMATAM'BA, a town of Peru, in the diocefe of 
Cufco: twenty-five miles weft of Cufco. 
To LPMATE, v. a. [from the Sax. lino, to file.] To 
file ; to polifh. But not much ufcd. Bailey. 
LIMA'TION,/! The a£f of filing; the a< 51 : of polifhing. 
LI'MATURE,y. [ limalura , Lat.] Filings of any me¬ 
tal ; the particles rubbed off by a file. 
LIMA'Y, a town of France, in the department of the 
Seine and Oife, on the Seine, oppofite Mantes. 
LI'MAX, f. in helminthology, the Slug, or Naked 
Snail ; a genus of the order of mollufca, or gelatinous 
worms. Generic characters: Body oblong, creeping, 
with a flefliy kind of fhield above, and a longitudinal flat 
difk beneath ; aperture on the right fide, within the fhield ; 
feelers four, iituate above the mouth, with an eye at the 
tip of each of the larger ones. There are fifteen fpecies: 
they commit great depredations in fields and gardens, es¬ 
pecially in wet weather. 
1. Limax levis, the fmooth flug. Specific character, 
body black, and almoft without wrinkles. It is found 
among mofslate in the autumn; and is about half an inch 
long. The body is gloffy, with undulate tranfverfe ftriae 
on the fhield; narrower, and not fomuch wrinkled as the 
following. 
e. Limax ater, the black flug: body black, and fur¬ 
rowed with deep wrinkles. Of this fpecies five varieties 
are enumerated : x. Colour deep black, pale beneath. ( 3 , 
Black, with a pale greenifli ridge down the back. y. Black, 
beneath white; mouth yellowifh. Chefnut-brown, be¬ 
neath white; mouth yellowifh. s. Dufky-brown, with a 
yellowifh mouth and (treakeach fide. Common in woods, 
meadows, fields, and gardens; from an inch and a half to 
five inches in length. Crawls very flowly, and leaves a 
flime upon whatever it paffes over; feelers always black; 
back convex ; fhield rough, with numerous dots; abdo¬ 
men wrinkled. 
3. Limax albus, the white flug; body white. This fpe* 
Vol. XII. No. S6y, 
L 1 M IIS 
cies contains four varieties, a. The entirely white. /?, 
White edged with yellow', y. White, an orange margin 
and hind-head. J. White, with black feelers. It inhabits 
woods and groves, and is from a quarter to half an inch 
in length. 
4. Limax fuccineus, the amber-coloured flug: body, 
above pale rufous, beneath white. It inhabits fhaay 
damp places, and the bottom of hills, is about an inch 
and a half long ; the body has neither fpots nor belts ; its 
feelers are larger than thofe of the ater. 
5. Limax flavus, the yellow flug: body ambcr-colour 
fpotted with white; found in herbage. 
6. Limax cinereus, the grey flug: body cinereous, with 
or without fpots. There are fix varieties : x. Body im¬ 
maculate; fhield black-blue. / 3 . Shield fpotted with black 5 
body with black longitudinal ftripes. y. Shield and body 
fpotted with black. Body with five whitifh ftreaks, the 
lower one interrupted, e. Body with white and cinere¬ 
ous wrinkles, and black fpots in a double row. Body 
edged with white; inhabits woods, gardens, and damp 
cellars; and is from four to five inches long. 
7. Limax hyalinus, the wrinkled flug: body with a hy¬ 
aline or glafiy appearance; feelers obfolete, with a brown 
line reaching from the feelers to the fhield. Found in 
damp molly places, and is very deftructive to the young 
fhoots of kidney-beans; belly with numerous interrupted 
wrinkles. 
8. Limax agreftis, the ruflic flug: body whitifh, with 
black feelers. This fpecies is divided into four varieties- 
a. Entirely whitifh, without any fpots. 
The fpinning flug: whitifh, with a yellow fhield. 
This variety, and probably many others, has the power of 
fecreting a large quantity of mucus from the under fur- 
face, and forming it into a thread, like a fpider’s web; 
by this means it often fufpends itfelf, and defeends from 
the branches of trees, or any height it bad crawled up to. 
It inhabits woods and other fhady places; and is commonly 
about three quartersof an inch long. It was firft particularly 
noticed by Mr. Hoy, and deferibed in the 'I'ran factions 
of the Linnacan Society; vol. i. At firft he faw it fuf- 
pended from the branch of a fir-tree, and was not aware 
that it was a living creature. It was hanging, by a Angle 
line or thread attached to its tail. This thread was in the 
upper part extremely fine, but near the animal it became 
thicker and broader, till at length it exaflly correfponded 
with the tail. Its defeent was at the rate of an inch in 
three minutes, a motion fufficiently flow for the minuteft 
obfervation. The line by which it defeended was drawn 
from the flimy exudation gradually fecreted from the pores 
that covered its whole body. Apparently there was much 
exertion required to produce a fufficient fupply of the li¬ 
quid, and to force it towards the tail; it alternately drew 
back its head, and turned it as far as poflible, firft to one 
fide, and then to the other, as if to prefs its Tides, and thus 
promote the fecretion. Dr. Shaw had obferved the fame 
thing about ten years before, namely, on the 27th of Sep- 
tember, 1776. 
In addition to Mr. Hoy's account, we (hall give foine 
farther particulars, taken from a curious paper by Dr. 
John Latham, in the fourth volume of the fame Tranfac- 
tions. Speaking of the curious property belonging to the 
fpinning flug, the doflor fays, “that it is a cuftom not 
unufual for this fpecies to pafs from an height fecurely to 
the ground, by means of a thread of its own conftrinftion, 
feems manifeft; for, on my' friend’s (Col. Montague, 
F. L. S.} putting one of them on the projecting frame of 
a window, it immediately crawled forwards till it came 
to the projecting angle, from whence, without attempting 
to fix itfelf by its fore parts to any thing, it became vifi- 
bly fufpended by a thread from its tail. When it had 
defeended two feet, the colonel took it up by the thread, 
and carried it to a diitant room ; but trying to fix it afrefh, 
in order more accurately to obferve its progrefs, the thread 
broke. Hs then put it on a frame about four feet from 
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