Page:The Zoologist, 3rd series, vol 2 (1878).djvu/108

86 red specimens have been met with, though rarely.—B. Harting, near Petersfield.—W. Brighton.—M. Common in the vicinity of Lewes.—U. "By many persons of easy belief," says Mr. Weaver, "this slug is thought to be endowed with a valuable property, in which may be found a slight compensation for its depredations. In the destruction of warts on the human skin, it has the credit locally of having been eminently successful long before the application of acetic acid to this purpose. The living slug, after having been carefully rubbed over the parts affected, is to be securely impaled on a thorn in some secluded place, and there left to die. If, from the commencement of the experiment, the warts do not gradually become fine by degrees and beautifully less, until they finally disappear, the operator has failed in one or other of the two conditions indispensable to success—implicit faith or strict secresy!"

Arion hortensis. The Garden Slug.—Common everywhere. The eggs are phosphorescent for about a fortnight after they have been deposited, and may be seen in the evening on moist hedgebanks, giving out a pale light.

Limax marginatus. Sowerby's Slug.—Common in the Weald, and found also on the South Downs. Not uncommon about Henfield, and at Hassock's Gate, near Hurstpierpoint.—B. It may be looked for under stones, among dead leaves, and at the foot of old walls. It is of inactive habits, and secretes a thick slime. The Abbe Stabile has observed that it is much preyed upon by large carnivorous beetles, and Mr. Gwyn Jeffreys adds that in its turn it preys upon live worms and smaller slugs.

Limax flavus. The Yellow Slug.—Found occasionally at Chichester, Cowfold and Henfield (B); at Harting (W and H); at Brighton (M); and near Hailsham (H). Specimens have also been met with by the side of a ditch near the Priory, Lewes.—U. To be looked for in damp places, as cellars and drains, and under stones in moist situations and about decaying stumps in the woods.

Limax agrestis. The Field Slug.—Abundant everywhere; the pest of the farmer as well as of the gardener. It may be met with in the cornfields in such abundance that even the willing Rooks and Pheasants find it no easy task to keep its numbers within safe