History of British animals - University of Guam Marine Laboratory

256 MOLLUSCA. PULMONIFERA. Amon.LIMACIDJi.Gen. XIII. ARION.— A mucous orifice at the retral terminationof the cloak ;matter.shield strengthened bysoft calcareous47. A. ater.— Tentacula and snout black ;body generally ofthe same colour.Limax ater, List. An. Ang. 131. Conch, t. 101. f.102, and t. 101. a. f,103. Mull. Verm. Hist. ii. p. 2—Arion ater, Ferussac, Hist. Moll. i.60. t. i. f. 1-3.— Common.Body rounded above, becoming ridged towards the tail. Shield granulated ;cloak with numerous anastomosing furrows, the margin with transverse parallelridges.Orifice of the pulmonary cavity near the anterior margin ofthe shield, with the sexual orifice underneath. Deposits its bluish eggs in acluster in May at the roots of plants. Feeds on dead and living vegetables ;and even on the common earthworm when dead, according to Mr Power—Linn. Trans, ix. 323— This species is subject to considerable variation of colour,being sometimes of a brownish tinge (Limax rufus) or with the ; margin ofthe cloak reddish or yellowish.Gen. XIV. LIMAX.— No mucous orifice ;shield strengthenedby a shelly plate the ; pulmonary cavity and sexual orificeunder the righttentaculum.48. L. cincreus.— Grey, with dark brown spots ;tentaculaveined.List. An. Ang. 127. Conch, t. 101. a. f. 104. Mull. Verm. Hist. ii. p. 3.Fer. Hist. Moll. i. 65. t. iv—Common.Length 5 or 6 inches, Three black lines between the tentacula. Shieldnearly smooth ;the cloak with branched furrows. The foot whitish. Shellof the shield white, smooth, depressed, and translucent. Eggs white, depositedin spring, under stones. Food vegetables. Varies much in the colouring.Lives in old damp walls, and shaded places.49. L. agrestis.— Grey, clouded, tentacula black.L. cin. parvus, List. An. Ang. 130. Conch, t. 101. f. 101—L. ag. Mull.Verm. Hist. ii. p. 8. Fer. Hist. Moll. i. 73. t. v. f. 7-10.—Common.Length about an inch. Tentacula short. Body convex above, ending ina ridge at the tail. Shell of the shield oval, pellucid. When touched itsbody becomes covered with a white mucus. Lurks under stones and rottentimber This species is capable of forming a thread, and suspending itselffrom trees, a kind of locomotion in the slugs,first noticed by Lister An. Ang.3., and afterwards by other observers, Linn. Trans, vol. i.182, and vol. iv.p. 85.M. Ferussac adds as a synonime to his L./avws, " lutescens, fusco tesseratus,tentaculis cceruleis; clypeo postice rotundata," i. p. 71- 1. v. f. 1-6, a referenceto Pennant's Brit. Zool. iv. 41, where, under the name Yellow Slug,a species is described " of an amber colour, marked with white." This is