Decembek 4. 
COUNTllY GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION. 
107 
! TKSTAGELLUS SCUTULUM. 
Tn Uie spring of tliis year, I one damp evening discovered, 
on my strawberry-lied, an enormous number of slugs, of an 
extraordinary length, size, and appearance, at which 1 was 
, greatly alarmed for the safety of my crop of fruit, and at 
once set to w'ork destroying them; and I continued nightly 
to search for and destroy every one I could lind, until I had 
succeeded in very considerably diminishing their numbers. 
I observed—and it occurred to me as strange—that I invari¬ 
ably found them crawling upon the ground, and never upon 
the foliage, or fruit; and also the almost entire absence of 
injury to tlie fruit, or foliage, in contradistinction to previous 
years; wdien, on one occasion (now three or four years 
since), I had my crop of strawberries almost entirely de¬ 
stroyed from the ravages committed by the slug. 
About a fortnight since, I observed one of these creatures 
, devouring a large earth-worm, which, from my ignorance of 
' the existence of a carnivorous slug, caused me to make some 
I imiuiries relative to its identity and habits; and it turns out 
that it is the Tcstacclla sciitulinn, or Teneritfe Testacella, 
tliat I have been destroying, which, it appears, feeds upon 
earth-worms. But the query I want answered is, whether 
they do not also feed upon the common slug. This occurred 
to me as probable; and the idea has been strengthened by 
I my having found, a few days since, one which w’as injured— 
apparently the head partly eaten off—in the same hole with 
! one of the Testacella scutuluin, together with the fact of the 
absence of the common slug in that part of my garden 
(viz., the strawberry-bed) where the 'Testacella scutulum 
abounds; because, should this bo the case, it ought to 
be generally known, as of course, under such circum- 
slauccs, the Testacella sciitiilirm would be a most valuable 
acquisition to our gardens, or even to the farmer, provided 
tliat is is in no ivay injurious to vegetation, either from its 
feeding or habits. 
Any information you or any of your correspondents could 
give upon these points would, I think, be valuable to the 
cultivators of the soil generally, and most thankfully re¬ 
ceived by— John Denny, Stoke-Newiiujton. 
(The following extract from the “Penny Cycloxjfcdia” 
may give the information required about this species of 
sing;—- 
“ Shell external, solid, auriform, depressed, with the spire 
more or less projecting, having a very large oval aperture; 
the right lip siinjile and trenchant, the left convex and re- 
llcctcd; the shell covers the posterior part of the pulmonary 
cavity. 
“ The number of species given by Laniark is one only, 
and though M. Deshayes, in his tables, makes the number 
two, one only is recorded in the last edition of Lamark. 
3Ir. G. B. Sowerby figures and describes three ;— 'Testacella 
huliotidcus, Scutulum, and Mauyei. 
“ lUstortj, Habits, &c.—This form appears to have been 
first noticed by M. Dugue, in a garden at Dieppe, in 1740, 
but it does not seem to have attracted much attention till 
i iM. Alaugc, some years since, brought homo specimens from 
! Teneritfe. It has also been found, says Mr. Sow'erby, in 
I several parts of France and in Spain, and more lately in 
a garden at Bristol. Some specimens from the last- 
mentioned place have been handed to us by Sir. Miller, 
of that city. It feeds upon Earth - worms, having the 
power of elongating its body to such a degree that it 
is able to follow them in all their subterranean wind¬ 
ings. We have observed them attentively, and were 
rather sui’prised that an animal generally so extremely 
sluggish in its notions, after discovering its prey by means 
of its teutacida, thrusting from its large mouth its white 
creiiulated revolute tongue, should instantly seize upon 
with extraordinary rapidity, and firmly retain, an earth¬ 
worm of much greater size and apparent strength than 
itself, but which, by its utmost exertions, is unable to escape. 
Mr. Sowerby adds, that De Ferussac and Cuvier consider 
this to be the only carnivorous terrestrial mollusk, De 
Ferussac. remarked, that the simple gelatinous contractile 
mantle of the animal, hidden habitually under the shell, is 
divided into many lobes, capable of enveloping the whole 
body, by an extraordinary development, when the animal 
finds it necessary to protect itself from the consequences of 
too great-dryness. 
“ Localities.—'Testaccllus haliolideus inhabits the south of 
France. 
“ 7'c,st.'JHrtiq/ci is an inhabitant of TenerilVe, but natural¬ 
ized at Bristol; and 
“ 'J'est. scutulum, which was discovered in a garden at Lam¬ 
beth, may, in the opinion of Mr. Sowerby, be considered a 
uativo of this island.”) 
BREEDING GARB. 
“ In reply to a “ A CouEEsroNiiENT,” who is anxious to 
know the best manner of rearing Carp, I would observe, 
that it is a subject which is little considered in England, 
where there are very few with any relative practical know¬ 
ledge ; and there are very few works in the English lan¬ 
guage that can be relied upon. In Germany, lai'ge revenues 
are derived from breeding Carp; it is, therefore, in that 
language most works relating to the subject are to be found; 
but there is a very excellent little work in Fu'ench, called the 
“ Manuel du Becheur,” which, to a Carp breeder, would be 
useful. 
Having never read of, heard of, or seen such an extra¬ 
ordinary circumstance as three years spawn in one fish, I 
cannot tell your correspondent how to remedy it; but so far 
as my little knowledge goes, I will tell him how to breed 
Caiqi sircces^fully. 
In the first place, three jionds arc required; the spawning, 
the nursery, and the stock-pond. They should be, at least, 
100 yards apart, protected from the north-east winds, but 
no trees to overshadow them, with a nice soft stream of 
running water, and, if possible, the drainage of the farm¬ 
yard, or the back-yard of a house, more particularly in the 
stock-pond, from whence the table supply is taken. 
The soil in rvliich the pond is placed should not be clay, 
as the iron ill the clay stops the breeding; but if, unfortu- 
naloly, you have only clay, then lay on a thick coating of 
gravel and sand, turf it some distance down on the sides; 
tlic bottom should not bo more than three feet deep, except 
where the canal is made for the wati'r to run out; and be 
particular to keep it free from any metals that might corrode. 
Tlie size of these ponds should be in proportion as 4,5, and 
(); tliat is, supposing No. 1 to be four roods. No. 2 five 
roods, and No. d six roods, and to every rood of the spawn¬ 
ing pond sliould be put in 50 brood Carp and 100 male, 5 
brood and 5 male Tench, and 5 brood and 5 male Jack; no 
other fish. Avoid Eels, and, above all, Frogs. 
Jack is put in, because, if the Carp were allowed to spawn 
without some of it being destroyed, the pond would be over¬ 
stocked. A Carp w'eighing one pound-and a-half will contain, 
at least, dOO.OOO eggs ; as many as 4-12,000 has been counted ; 
and in one of nine pounds, (i21,000. The Tench is put in 
tn keep the flsli healthy; it is tlie doctor, not only for Carp, 
but for all freshw'ater fish. If “A Correspondent” has 
none in his pond, let him put some in at once ; now is the 
season. 
The spaw'iiing pond should contain Tolamoijeton uala)ts, 
commonly called (I think) Tench Weed, and llanunculus 
Jluviatilis, or Water Crowfoot; against the former they rub 
their sides when about to sjjawn, and on the latter they cast 
it. It requires two or even three male Carp to fecundate 
the eggs of one brood Carp; and it is not unusual to see the 
female, when spawming, attended by four or five males. A 
circumstance I have not known in any other freshwater fish, 
but whicli is common iu salt-water fish. 
At the expiration of the first twelvemonths, about April 
or Dlay. according to the atmosphere, the spawning-pond 
should bo emptied into the nursery; and, at the end of 
twelvomoiiths, the nursery into the stock pond; and so on, 
in rotation, keeping the brood fish iu the spawning-pond, as 
they are good up to nine years old. In the last pond they 
should remain twelvemonths, or longer; in fact, if they are 
fed as they ought to be, any quantity may be kept, and a 
nice supply of the three kinds of fish may be obtained. 
Boiled potatoes, spoilt Indian meal, J'C., for the Carp and 
Tench, and the entrails of poultry, snails, slugs, Ac., for the 
Jack ; and when they have plenty they will not touch other 
fish. 
I prefer liaving,in addition, a small pond, made of gravel, 
