Slug (bullet)

“ The slug is as defenceless as the pigeon, and no greater share of courage is required for slug hunting than for pigeon shooting; but whereas the one amusement is a slaughter of innocents, the other is the destruction of ravening beasts, and stands therefore in a far higher category. The slug trusts neither to speed nor fierceness; we know from story how his cousin, the snail, when attacked, put to flight a troop of tailors, by the exhibition of his horns, or, as the scientific would tell us, of his eyes on their upreared stalks. But if the slug possesses eyes, he makes no show of them. ”

“ The production of a mucus-thread, as a means of progression through the air, has long been known in the Land-Slugs, and has been observed in seven genera, representing Limacidæ, Arionidæ, and Philomycidæ.
The Spinning-Slug (Limax filans) of authors is a myth, the habit being general, extending possibly to all Slugs of the families named. The animals are occasionally seen descending from trees, fences, rafters in greenhouses, &c, and they are easily induced to descend from small exposed objects on which they may be placed. ”

“ When the slug is cold, the body of the slug may be solid and have a stringy or flaky appearance, and the face may be imperfect, some of the letters being poorly cast or blurred. The base of the slug usually will be good. ”

“ Provoke me as you have suggested, and I’ll kill you with no more compunction than I should kill a slug, which after all is the thing you most resemble—a slug, Binet; a fat, slimy body; foulness without soul and without intelligence. ”

“ A good many different kinds of slugs are found in Great Britain. The largest of all is the great gray slug, which often grows to a length of more than six inches. Then the black slug is very common in many parts of the country. It is not always black, however, for one may often find examples which are brown, or yellow, or gray, or even white. The milky slug, which has a thick creamy slime, is plentiful everywhere. ”

“ When it is alarmed it is only about half an inch long. Many slugs have shells. The horns upon their heads are weapons. Slugs travel very slowly. Once a slug had a race with a hare. The slug won. Snails are the same as slugs. ”

“ The slug, unlike the snail, leaves a trail behind him, and this remains visible for hours. The creature is fully aware of the danger which this shining evidence of his passage would entail upon him, but his native craft enables him to baffle his pursuers. As the fox doubles across his trail to throw off the hounds, so does the slug upon his return to his hiding-place at daylight double and twist until his trail is a very labyrinth which Dædalus himself could not solve. Men have been known in the enthusiasm of the chase to sprinkle finely powdered charcoal over a trail of this kind. ”

“ A thick, dirty, slimy worm, without head or tail, form or colour. A slug has more artistic beauty about him. Be it so. At home in the aquarium (where, alas! he will live but for a day or two, under the new irritation of light) he will make a very different figure. That is one of the rarest of British sea-animals, Peachia hastata (Pl. XII. Fig. 1) , which differs from most other British Actiniæ in this, that instead of having like them a walking disc, it has a free open lower end, with which (I know not how) it buries itself upright in the sand, with its mouth just above the surface. ”

“ Snails' eggs are nearly white and semi-transparent; the empty shells of young snails are very lovely when placed in a good microscope: the polariscope bringing out their exquisite prismatic tints.
The gardener one day brought in a testacella, or shelled slug. It fed upon earth-worms and was quite unlike the ordinary black or grey slug, of which we have, alas! countless thousands preying upon all the green things of the earth. This shelled slug was yellow, and seemed able to elongate its body very differently to any other species. ”

“ The slug, called Succinea, is not strictly aquatic, but lives in damp places, and may be seen in full activity far from rivers, in meadows where the grass is wet with rain or dew; but shells of the genera Limnaea, Planorbis, Paludina, Cyclas, and others, requiring to be constantly in the water, are extremely exceptional in the loess, occurring only at the bottom of the deposit where it begins to alternate with ancient river-gravel on which it usually reposes. ”

“ The slugs, which commit their depredations in the night, creep under the leaves in the morning, and by turning up the leaves you come at the slugs, and crush them, or carry them away. But besides the immense daily labour attending this, the slug, in a field sowed with wheat, has a clod to creep under at every foot, and will not go five feet to get under a cabbage-leaf. ”

“ Note also that most slugs have many variations in colour and markings.
Testacella haliotidea.—This genus of slugs forms a link between the naked slugs with rudimentary shells within, and the snails which live within their shells. The name Testacella, or little shell, was given by Cuvier in 1800, because this slug has a small shell at the end of the tail. Haliotidea means having a shell in the form of the marine shell Haliotis, the meaning of which again is the ear-shaped seashell, often called “Venus’ Ear.” It is subterranean in habit, and lives on worms. ”

“ SCUTUM AMBIGUUM (Plate IX.) .—Fig. 23 (late Parmophorus unguis) is a white shell, covered with a thin brown epidermis, and is sometimes over 21⁄2 inches long. The animal is like a big black slug, and, in comparison with the size of the slug, the shell is very small. A slug the size of a man’s fist would have a shell about an inch long. Most shell-hunters would pass by a Scutum abiguum, not thinking it had a shell embedded in its folds. The shell is found amongst rocks in sheltered places on ocean beaches. ”

“ The slug will devour almost any garden plant, whether it be a flower or a vegetable. They lay lots of eggs in old rubbish heaps. Do you see the good of cleaning up rubbish? The slugs do more harm in the garden than almost any other single insect pest. You can discover them in the following way. There is a trick for bringing them to the surface of the ground in the day time. You see they rest during the day below ground. So just water the soil in which the slugs are supposed to be. How are you to know where they are? They are quite likely to hide near the plants they are feeding on. ”

“ By placing the egg on a looking-glass the act of exclusion can be perfectly observed. For several days the inmate can be seen in motion, until at last a small crack appears in the surface of the shell: this gradually enlarges, until the baby slug is able to crawl out, although it not unfrequently backs into the shell again, as if unwilling to risk itself in the world. When it once begins to crawl freely, it buries itself in the ground for 4 or 5 days without food, after which time it emerges, nearly double its original size. ”

“ It is not an easy matter to study its feeding habits when it is at large, and our knowledge of its food preferences have been derived mainly from Slow-worms in captivity. It will take spiders, small earthworms, and small insects; but always shows a marked preference for the small greyish-white slug (Limax agrestis) that is so great a pest to the grower of tender vegetables. This slug the Slow-worm consumes in quantity. Dr. Gerald Leighton, in his book on the "British Lizards," says: "I can vouch for a meal that consisted of seventeen slugs, the Slow-worm being a large male sixteen inches long. ”

“ Hitherto all efforts to turn the slug to profitable use have failed, and mankind have been content to destroy without utilising it. The snail, we know, makes a good and nourishing soup, and nothing but prejudice prevents it from becoming a valuable article of food. But the snail, living as it does in its shell, has but a soft skin, while the slug possesses a coat of extraordinary toughness, which would seem to be an obstacle in the way of its ever becoming useful for culinary purposes. ”

“ Many such shaws in a field give it an unsightly appearance, but beyond this there is no great harm done after all, for as the slug seldom begins its work until the plant is large and well forward, the tubers underground, though they may be of smaller size than their neighbours that have escaped the slug’s attentions, are yet sound and wholesome food enough either for man or beast. ”

“ I now find the only plan to exterminate them is hand-picking in the morning when the dew is on the leaf; by doing so I have nearly got rid of them. I now find a small brown slug on the leaves, eating holes in them, this is evidently the offspring of the bug; I also pick them off, thus preventing the breeding for next year. My vines, from being mere bare poles, are now bringing forth buds and leaves, but of course no fruit this year. I should much wish to hear if any remedy has been found. I find the wild ones in the woods are also infested with the slug. ”

“ Pieces of board six or eight inches square, pressed firmly into the ground, are a good trap, as these keep the soil beneath them moist, and the slug loves moisture and takes refuge under them. Much execution may be done by these and similar traps, but the enthusiast regards these devices with contempt, for he knows that the enemy may be thinned but that he will never be exterminated by such means. ”

“ In greenhouses a slug will forage night after night—as gardeners know to their cost—over the same beat, and will always return to the same hiding-place. Limax flavus has been noticed crawling with great regularity to a sink from a hole near the water-pipe, and keeping to a well-marked circular track. ”

“ The long shining line with which the creature marked its path is the slime which proceeds from its body, and with which it is enabled to glide smoothly over sand or gravel that would otherwise injure it. I have said more on this subject than I should otherwise have done, because I wish to point out to you that even a creature so humble and so despicable [Pg 398] as a slug, is as curiously and wonderfully made, and displays the power and wisdom of its Creator, as decidedly, as the noblest and most beautiful animal. ”

“ In the general destruction of insects, the Lady-bird should always be spared, as, both in its larva and its perfect state, it lives on the larvæ of the green fly, or aphis.
Snails and Slugs are more destructive to vegetation than any kind of insect; and they are still more difficult to get rid of. There is a very small gray slug, that is [Pg 132] peculiarly injurious to plants in pots; the large grey is also very destructive, and the common garden snail. ”

“ Even to the flesh of monkeys and snakes they have no objection.
The sea slug is an aristocratic and costly delicacy, which is never wanting, any more than the edible birds-nests, at a feast where honour is intended to be done to the guests. These birds-nests are worth twice their weight in silver. They are glutinous compositions formed by a kind of swallow, in vast clusters, found in Java, Sumatra, and the rocky islets of the Indian Archipelago. Dried sharks’ fins and fish maws are also highly prized. ”

“ Our common Slugs yield, on dissection, thin shells, which are concealed beneath the mantle, Limax, 9-12. The shells of Testacellus, 13, 14, are fixed near the end of the foot, outside. The glassy shells of Vitrina, 15, 16, do not enclose the whole Slug-like animal. The other genera of Land Snails have shells large enough to receive the animal when retracted and withdrawn for repose. ”

“ Boosey was exceedingly agreeable, and after inquiring about his friends in Melbourne, asked me to read the article I had brought. After giving a few preliminary coughs I began:
‘SLUGS.
‘“Slugs eat cabbage. They forage at night. In the morning they creep home. They are afraid of gardeners. Gardeners hate slugs because they eat the things in the garden. To catch slugs you must get up early. The captives may be thrown into a neighbouring garden. This annoys the man next door. The slug is a very quiet animal. ”

“ But although, so far, the slug has failed to afford either profit or gratification to man, its existence cannot be termed a failure, for there can be no doubt that, although unprovided with visible eyes, feet, or other organs, the slug manages to enjoy itself vastly. ”

“ And sometimes one may dig up a very curious slug—testacella—which feeds on earthworms, and follows them down to the very bottom of their burrows. When the weather is cold, this slug makes a kind of cocoon of earth and slime, and lies fast asleep inside it, often for many months at a time. ”

“ In the woods you see yellow ones with several black bands wound round them in regular order.”
“The creature we call the spiral snail—isn’t it a slug that finds an empty shell and lives in it?” asked Emile.
“No, my friend; a slug remains always a slug without becoming a snail; that is to say, it never has a shell. The snail, on the contrary, is born with a tiny shell that grows little by little as the snail grows. The empty shells you find in the country have had their inhabitants, which are now dead and turned to dust, only their houses remaining.” ”

“ It invariably took them in one position. Elevating its head slowly above its victim, it would suddenly seize the slug by the middle, in the same way that a ferret or dog will generally take a rat by the loins; it would then hold it thus sometimes for more than a minute, when it would pass its prey through its jaws, and swallow the slug head foremost. It refused the larger slugs, and would not touch either young frogs or mice. Snakes kept in the same cage took both frogs and mice. The Blind-worm avoided the water ”