Big slugs. Slugs: description of species, photo and video

Part one. Gastropods attack!

Spanish snail, Lusitanian slug, red slug...

This is a relatively new inhabitant of central Russia, which appeared in suburban areas near Moscow only in the last few years. A large, rapidly breeding, omnivorous slug of color options from orange-red to dark brown is perceived by many older summer residents as a kind of mutant of familiar slugs, and talk is usually about environmental degradation and the horrors of the chemical industry, but meanwhile this gastropod is a typical example of the importation of agricultural pest with vegetables and fruits. A foreign invader, so to speak.

Red roadside slug (Arion rufus)
Or perhaps the Lusitanian slug (Arion lusitanicus)

The folk names of this slug - the Spanish snail, the Lusitanian slug, the red slug and other variations on the theme of color and place - apparently go back to the names two species of lung snails from the genus Arion: Arion rufus and Arion lusitanicus. In Russian, these are, respectively, the red roadside slug and the Lusitanian slug. The species are similar to each other, it is hardly possible to determine which one you got among your favorite roses or in a gently cultivated greenhouse. It is definitely possible to exclude the black variation of the slug - Arion ater is an exclusively nocturnal species that is not yet found in our country, and in Northern Europe it is even listed in the Red Book (although not as an endangered species).
A large roadside slug also lives in Europe - but this spotted creature, growing up to 20 cm of average length, does not seem to live here either. (Although they write on the Internet that big slugs have taken root well in both Americas ...)

Initially, red slugs lived in the south of Portugal and Spain (on the territory of the ancient Roman province of Lusitania, from which one of the species got its name). Apparently, the main food for these gastropods at first was rotting forest litter, but the development of agriculture provided red slugs with much more satisfying and large "pastures". Climate warming, as well as an increase in agricultural land, trade relations, globalization and other achievements of human civilization contributed to the fact that red slugs, traveling throughout Europe, gradually acquired new habitats - preferring to capture vegetable fields, orchards, as well as planting cereals and various there are vineyards.

Until the first quarter or third of the 20th century, red slugs were considered the scourge of only their original habitats, but in the twentieth century, slugs captured almost all of Europe, after which they moved east, that is, towards us. It should also be noted that until the 1990s, the supply of agricultural products from Europe to Russia was simply not carried out, European fruits and vegetables came to us only a couple of decades ago. Along with them, apparently, came the red slugs, which by that time in Europe had already been recognized as catastrophic pests.

Welcome foreign invaders...

What provoked the rapid growth in the number of slugs and their rapid spread over such a large area? A couple of Internet publications evasively talk about the absence of natural enemies in slugs, which leads to an uncontrolled increase in their numbers. But there is obvious cunning in this kind of approach - slugs that have abandoned their protective shell are, in fact, simple and affordable food for a huge number of carnivores. First of all, slugs are prey for hedgehogs, moles and shrews. A hungry rat does not disdain a slug. Many amphibians like frogs, toads, salamanders are also willing to eat slugs. Slugs are included in the diet of lizards and snakes. And there are also birds: large passerines, most ravens, many waterfowl are ready to eat gastropods.

Red roadside slug at the edge of the forest
(near the reclamation ditch)

Even if all these enemies are not ready to attack an adult red slug, reaching a maximum length of 15 cm, they should have destroyed the vast majority of small gastropods. But that doesn't happen. For a very obvious reason - most of the listed enemies of slugs are enemies of agriculture, only larger and more visible, and not only European, but also our Russian farmers have been successfully fighting them for a long time. There are no moles - there are slugs. There are no frogs - there are slugs. There are no birds - there are slugs. Why be surprised?

Droughts in the south of Europe could have been a deterrent to the spread of slugs - slugs do not know how to live in a dry climate and quickly die in the absence of moisture. Land reclamation and the transition of agriculture to technologies that use irrigation contributed to the reproduction and comfortable life of slugs. You can, of course, scribble abstruse articles about the impact on the biosphere of the planet of a comet named after an unknown astronomer, but in fact we ourselves paved convenient travel routes for slugs and organized excellent feeding grounds for them.

In our Russian conditions, winter frost can affect the number of both Lusitanian and red slugs. Adults and small slugs hibernate in the soil, burrowing into it and falling into anabiosis. Our winters cannot be compared with Spanish ones, the soil in the forest can freeze several tens of centimeters deep. The dimensions of the European alien are quite large, it is much more difficult for him to keep all vital systems intact than for our ordinary slugs.

However the main thing for survival is to overwinter the eggs of slugs, and this, as you know, is a completely different matter. Eggs can be stored inside the root plexuses of trees, in earthen minks, and simply in the depths of a pile of leaves. The egg itself is a much more resistant form of life, and one slug can lay up to hundreds of eggs in one clutch. (I don’t know who it was and how it was considered, but the figure wanders from article to article.) How often a slug can lay eggs is unknown, I have not found reliable information. Our gray slugs seem to do this once a year - in the fall, with a lifespan of 1 to 3 years. But again, this is all separate empirical data.

And do not forget that any suburban area will provide slugs with enough secluded places where you can comfortably and calmly wait out the coldest winter. Perhaps that is why flower growers write hysterically about slugs in their blogs, and not pathos-tragically broadcast ministers from the screens of zombies.

Let's take it out, take it out... We'll live on a bare planet.

In the articles of noble agronomists and honored farmers, there would be further discussions about how and what is better to lime the slug. But I will not discuss the issues of mass killing of slugs. I myself am lazy for energetic military measures, and I consider it pointless to fuss for every inch of land free from pests on a scale of six, fifteen, thirty acres. In addition, I do not feel the right to deprive other creatures of life just because I was impatient here and now to admire some vegetation, and they prevented this. As long as we are not talking about cultivating the land for the sake of daily bread, there is no point in fighting what nature itself has come up with. And what chemists and biologists have come up with, let them figure it out themselves.

Estimate the size of the elongated slug
And it's not the largest specimen.

Slugs prevented me from admiring the flower? Well, so be it.
I will admire the amazing creatures that managed to capture Europe.
It turns out they are very, very interesting creatures.

And finally. How long have you seen a hedgehog in your summer cottage? Ah, long time ago. And no hedgehog will make it to your site, because you have a reliable fence, under which even a mouse will not slip. And how many years, how did you bring out all the moles? Ah, it's been a decade. And you don’t want to see any more such misfortune in yourself. What do you do with a randomly seen toad? Ah, you do the same. Dirty and nasty ... And if a snake? Ah, this is terrible...

Go on, dear summer residents, cleaning up your plots in accordance with your miserable illusions that it is you who decides who will live here. The red slugs are on their way. Get ready to meet uninvited guests. And get ready to give them everything - vegetables from the garden, fruits from the garden, and even flowers from your favorite flower bed. Slugs love everything. Everything will be eaten.
Do you think some cunning poison will help you? Imagine how much of this poison you yourself and your children will eat and inhale. And for a second, think that someone will come after the slugs. After all, someone will come. Necessarily. Are you ready for this meeting?

Photo and text: Lazy Summer Resident, 2014

And since garden slugs are omnivores, most garden and garden crops can become spoiled. Of course, it is impossible to describe all the known species of terrestrial slugs, since there are quite a lot of them. We collected the most famous and widespread. See photos of slugs with names in the material.

Slug species

Garden (garden)

They are also called naked slugs. They have an elongated body, which can change shape due to muscle contractions. The body is always moistened with mucus, which is constantly secreted.

The color is inconspicuous - grayish, yellowish and light brown. There is a grater on the tongue- a lot of small cloves of a solid consistency, arranged in rows.

At the front edge are tentacles, with visual organs located on them. Sizes are small - 25-30 mm.

This species can eat a variety of fruits and vegetables, especially tomatoes, strawberries, cabbage and strawberries. Distributed throughout Europe. Harms plants by eating leaves and stems, in fruits and vegetables makes holes. Thanks to his activity, the crop begins to rot, loses commercial and decorative qualities.

Active in cloudy and rainy weather, at night and early in the morning. It hides from the sun in damp lowlands, under earthen clods.

In constantly wet areas(groundwater is almost on the surface, floodplains) there is an increased fertility. One adult is capable of laying 300-400 eggs. They hibernate in the ground, the young come out in the spring.

Naked

Small (up to 70 mm in length) and the most frequent visitor to gardens. Absolutely omnivorous, can eat almost any plants.

Scientists have found that in the diet of a voracious slug includes more than 160 types of crops. Outwardly, it is completely inconspicuous, due to the coloring it is difficult to detect.

The body may be brownish., gray or beige color with yellow and white tints. The mantle is weakly expressed, it is almost invisible on the body.

The body is richly lubricated with mucus, which is secreted more than in other species. His stay is not hard to find due to the large number of slimy paths left by him.

You can meet this species in almost any part of Europe. What is not surprising - after all a naked slug is fertile enough for this.

Big European

One of the largest pests of this family. big slug boasts a length of up to 150mm. The coloring is also quite unusual.

Over the main background color (gray or brown, sometimes light brown) there are stripes and spots of different colors from light, almost white to jet black.

What are the big slugs look at the photo.

European resident who doesn't like to move at all and change habitat.

Most often settled in greenhouses and wet cellars and spends their whole life in them. It is omnivorous and non-capricious, it can eat any available vegetables, mushrooms and fruits of fruit trees.

Large roadside or leopard

The body length can grow up to 20 cm. One of the largest representatives of slugs. Body shriveled, mostly rounded, only in the back is pointed at the end.

The base color can vary from light gray to chestnut, with ashy and yellowish slugs often found. Black spots and stripes are scattered throughout the body..

What a large roadside slug looks like, see the photo below.

It lives in Europe, which is its homeland, especially in the Central and Northwestern parts.

Its main feature is the method of mating. Adults attach to trees or other suitable support with the help of thick strands of mucus and hang down. It looks like they are floating in the air.

big spotted

A large member of the family, which can reach 130 mm in length. It is distinguished by the presence of small black dots and specks. covering the mantle.

In addition, it also has a longitudinal black stripe running across the entire surface. body shape oval, rounded at the ends.

Distributed in the southern part of Europe and in Asia, as it is quite thermophilic. Can grow in greenhouses in colder areas and other warm areas.

Eats a variety of vegetables, but most of all loves mushrooms, especially champignons.

The damage is quite serious due to the large size and a fairly long period of life of 3-4 years.

big black

The biggest black slug in the whole world, which reaches 300 mm in length. The black slug has a black mantle, adorned around the edges with small light speckles.

Sole in two colors - gray on the sides and black in the center. The color of the body can differ even within the same family and vary from monophonic to decorated with a wide variety of patterns.

The black slug lives in Europe, most common in Western and Central. In the Northern regions, it can only live in greenhouses.

Black slug photo.

It feeds mainly on mushrooms, will not give up vegetables. In the absence of a favorite food, lichen can be eaten. The large size of the body determines the great appetite and the great harm caused by the gluttonous giants.

There may be about 100 eggs in a clutch.

Ginger

Differs in medium size, the usual length is about 100 mm, but sometimes grows up to 180 mm. Has a very bright body color- brick, less often yellow, brownish-green or black.

Lives in Western, Eastern and Central Europe, North America. Listed in the Red Book in many countries.

In nature, lives next to a person, settling in the fields, in gardens, less often can be found in wooded areas, again close to human habitation.

red roadside

The people are also called Spanish and Lusitanian. Brought to Russia by accident lives in warm regions of Europe.

Portugal and Spain are considered its homeland. It can reach 200 mm, but this is rare. The average length of adult slugs is 9-11 cm.

The color is monophonic, usually red, brick, orange. The mantle and torso are colored the same. The horns are black. The body is completely covered with wrinkles.

It is omnivorous, eating fruits, berries, flowers, and vegetables from the garden. Likes mushrooms. Very prolific species. All adult slugs are hermaphrodites.

Mating, they mutually fertilize each other and lay eggs in 5-6 days in an amount of up to 400 pieces each. Unlike other varieties, egg laying occurs in spring and summer, young slugs "hatch" in a couple of weeks. Grow 2 months to the status of "pubescent adult".

Cabbage

Despite the relatively short length(3-4 cm), these slugs cause significant harm to all types of cabbage. They settle on heads of cabbage and begin to gnaw through many passages inside, not content with spoiling the outer leaves.

The body and mantle are brown or brown in color. with darker spots. The spots are not pronounced, arranged in random order. The sizes are varied. The horns and head are slightly darker.

They are found throughout Europe, excluding the most northern regions. Feeds mainly on cabbage, but with a lack of favorite food, it can eat mushrooms, various vegetables and leaves.

Field

The mollusk is small in size, growing in length by 3-4 cm. Coloring is inconspicuous and inconspicuous, varies from light gray to light chestnut.

Usually monophonic both on the body and on the mantle. Body shape is like a spindle- it is wide in the middle and narrowed towards the ends.

Lives throughout Europe. Lives on the edges of the forest, in constantly wet lowlands and meadows. Often moves to gardens, cultivated fields and vegetable gardens.

Feeds on young shoots, foliage, fruits and vegetables. Favorite food is strawberries.

Smooth

A small mollusk growing up to 25 mm in length. The mantle is located on the upper half of the body. The color is always monophonic, the color can be brown, reddish, black. Shape cylindrical, the ends are narrowed.

Lives in Europe, including the CIS countries. Settles in always wet meadows, near various reservoirs and swamps. Differs in increased moisture-loving, resistant to cold.

Feeds on various berries severely damages plants in greenhouses, in nature eats mushrooms and rotten plants.

Forest

A forest slug can grow up to 15 cm in length in its lifetime., and puberty occurs already at a length of 3 cm. Young individuals are always painted in a chestnut color, which most often changes.

The color of adult slugs is very diverse and varies from milky white to blue-black.

The habitat is very extensive and includes the British Isles., throughout Northern Europe and the Pacific Northwest.

In food unpretentious, almost omnivorous. Can feed on live and half-decayed plants, any mushrooms, carrion.

In Ireland, Germany and the UK, it is listed in the Red Book.

Banana

It has a huge size, slightly short of the black slug. Its body length is about 250 mm. A striking feature is its color.

Most often it is a bright yellow color, but some individuals are colored white or green. Usually the color is monophonic, sometimes dark specks are scattered on the back. The eyes are on the upper horns., and the lower, shorter ones, have olfactory receptors.

The banana slug is native to North America., they can be found along the Pacific coast, all the way to Alaska.

Its diet contains mushrooms, lichens and rotten grass, as well as the feces of various animals. Depending on the prevailing food, body can change color.

After fertilization, the average clutch is 70-75 eggs. The dormant period is in winter when the temperature gets high and the weather is dry.

In addition, with an abundance of rain attacks for winter crops.

Conclusion

Despite the harmfulness, gastropods are very popular in modern society. Horned slugs are kept in apartments as pets.

In addition, they appear in computer games (for example, the Royal Slug in Terriak) and as characters in books (the Horned Slug is used as an ingredient in magic potions).

Useful video!

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And here is another large shapeless black slippery creature that looks more like a character from a science fiction movie than a real-life animal...

It actually lives on our planet and with all its appearance clearly demonstrates the violent fantasy of our mother nature.

Who is this? Aplysia vaccaria is the largest slug in the world. Its other names are "black sea hare" or "California hare". Why California? Because these black clams - giants live only near California and in the Gulf of California.

Photo 3.

The aforementioned "bunnies" can reach impressive sizes - the largest specimen discovered by people was 99 cm long and weighed 14 kg!

In shallow water, these mollusks come out only to lay eggs, so meeting them is a rarity.

Photo 4.

It has long been known that Aplysia, or sea hares, living at the bottom of tropical seas, defending themselves from predators, release a mixture of purple ink and white matter, opaline, into the water. However, it has only recently become clear how exactly opaline helps mollusks cope with enemies. It turns out that this substance deprives the enemy of the opportunity to feel the bearded seal and, as a result, makes him lose his appetite.

Sea hares have a variety of defense mechanisms, each of which is applied depending on the situation. The secretion of ink and opaline is used by the mollusk only as a last resort, when the predator is already biting it. This viscous substance, released into the water, coats the enemy and inactivates his neurons, which detect odors and are responsible for transmitting signals from the brain to the muscles. As a result, the predator will cleanse itself of the sticky substance for a long time and will have time to lose its appetite, while the mollusk will disappear in the meantime.

Photo 5.

In addition to the ability to emit a substance that dulls the smell of the enemy, bearded seals have several ways to use their ink as a defense. For example, the high concentration of amino acids in them makes the ink very appetizing for some predators, which allows the mollusk to divert the attention of enemies from itself. Also, the pigment aplysioviolin, which gives a poisonous purple color to the ink of the mollusk, helps to drive away the attacking predator.

Such a variety of defense mechanisms is due to the fact that some of them affect some predators, but are completely harmless to others, and vice versa.

Photo 6.

Aplysia californica has become a valuable laboratory animal, used in studies of the neuroscience of learning and memory, and is particularly associated with the work of Nobel laureate Eric Kandel.

Its ubiquity in synaptic plasticity studies can be attributed to its simple nervous system, consisting of only 20,000 large, easily defined neurons with cell bodies up to 1 mm in size. Despite its seemingly simple nervous system, however, Aplysia californica is capable of a variety of non-associative and associative learning tasks, including sensitization, habituation, and classical and operant conditioning.

Photo 7.

Photo 8.

The Americans Coyote Pietersen and Aron Sanchez were lucky to see this animal with their own eyes. Young people wandered along the coast near Los Angeles, flooded by tides, and quite by chance noticed an unusual living creature under a small thickness of water - it was a sea black hare.

The specimen they found was of medium size - about 60 cm and weighed just under 5 kg.

sources

Just the word "slug" disgusts people. A nasty, rather vile, shapeless, slippery creature immediately appears before your eyes, which is always crawling somewhere.

Does nature really not have a mind that could produce such an animal that no one needs, useless for anything? To find the answer, you should study in more detail what characterizes the large roadside slug, the photo of which is now in front of your eyes. After reviewing the description of the slug, a person will have an idea of ​​​​what the appearance of this creature is, what lifestyle it leads, where its habitats are.

Large roadside (or leopard) slug: appearance

Representatives of this species are the largest of all types of large slugs. In different parts of the world, these mollusks were brought from Europe, which is their homeland. The large roadside slug is a mollusc of the order Lung snails. Its body consists of one leg, which merges with the head of the slug and is called the sole. The body length of the mollusk reaches from 10 to 20 cm. Sometimes the body of the animal grows up to 30 cm. It is wrinkled, somewhat rounded, pointed at the end of the back.

The body of slugs is symmetrical on both sides. From above it is covered with the so-called mantle in the form of a plate. Under it are the reproductive organs and the anus. There is a keel on the tail.

The color of the slug is found from light gray to chestnut, sometimes it is yellowish-white or ashy. The entire body of a large roadside slug is covered with black spots and stripes. This "cute" creature has very long tentacles. Their mucus is colorless.

Internal structure

On the back, under the skin of the mollusk, a shell is visible, which, like all other slugs, is greatly reduced. The shell is white in color, resembling an oblong oval in shape, its length is 13 mm, and its width is 7 mm. It is assumed that healing substances are stored there. This shell has been known since ancient times and used for medicinal purposes.

The digestive system of the leopard slug consists of the radula, pharynx, esophagus, and intestines. In the intestines, four sections have a connection with the liver, while the other two simply hang freely inside the body.

At first glance, this slug looks like a very simple creature, but it has a nervous system that consists of ganglia. Each ganglion has its place: the pedal ganglion lies under the radula, the abdominal ganglion is slightly to the right of the midline, and the visceral ganglia are located in the middle between the esophagus and the lingual membrane.

habitats

The habitats of the large roadside slug cover large areas. The habitat is located in the humid and temperate climate zones. Slugs live only in biotopes with sufficient moisture. For them, a very comfortable habitat is the litter of a deciduous forest.

Slugs are native to Australia, New Zealand and North America. They are also found in Western and Central Europe, in the Caucasus, where their favorite places are fields, meadows, forests, gardens and caves.

Large roadside slug: what to feed

These mollusks are herbivorous, when choosing food they are not too whimsical. While keeping in the terrarium, they should be provided with vegetables, fruits and mushrooms. Separately, you need to dwell on what the big roadside slug eats in places of natural residence.

Vegetation is considered the main food for mollusks. The leopard slug feeds on fallen leaves, flowers, fruits, and soft stems of living plants. Mushrooms are sometimes present in his diet. Although these slugs eat a lot, showing gluttony, if necessary, they can live without food for about 60 days, while being in a humid place.

Large roadside slug: breeding

This species, like all slugs, has a hermaphroditic reproductive system. Each individual has genital organs that correspond to the sex. Sexual products become mature with a time difference. First, the maturation of the sperm occurs. She represents packaged sachets - spermatophores. Then it starts in males. This substance is endowed with a smell by which the slug is found by its relative.

The mating ceremony of large roadside slugs takes place in a very unusual way. Mollusks hang on mucous threads head down, their bodies are woven into a single ball by their genitals. Since the blue penises of slugs reach a great length, it is not always possible for mating couples to unravel. In this case, some individuals resort to the least and bite off the genital organ, which grows back after a while.

After fertilization, the mollusk lays eggs in the ground; on average, one adult can lay from 30 to 70 large eggs. Their development occurs within 21-35 days, after which small slugs are born. They reach sexual maturity in 60 days. These animals live no longer than two years.

Economic value. Damage inflicted

For nature, slugs bring some benefit, being orderlies. They are able to process leaves that have fallen from trees, making humus out of them. But most of all, these mollusks, including the large roadside slug, cause quite significant damage to agriculture.

These voracious creatures cause especially great harm to potatoes by eating the tubers and foliage of the plant. Cauliflower and white cabbage, various varieties of lettuce, root crops, young vegetable plants, as well as fruits of strawberries, tomatoes and cucumbers suffer from the invasion of slugs. Vineyards and entire citrus plantations are affected by this pest.

The large roadside slug causes much less damage to the following crops:

• Red cabbage.
• Roots and leaves of parsley.
• Onion and garlic.
• Crops of barley and oats.

Spring wheat, flax and buckwheat almost do not feel the invasion of slugs. In addition to the fact that mollusks voraciously destroy crops, they are also carriers of fungal and viral diseases. Among these pests is a large roadside slug. The description of these diseases, which include spotting of cabbage, late blight of potatoes and downy mildew, makes it possible once again to ascertain the harmfulness of the slug. In this regard, the question arises, how can you get rid of such a nasty enemy?

Methods and ways to deal with slugs

Before you know what effective methods of dealing with slugs exist, you need to study and use all available preventive measures in time. First of all, you need to ensure that the sites have a large number of natural enemies of slugs. These include hedgehogs, frogs and toads.

In addition, a trench must be made around the site, as well as sprinkled with sand, needles, lime and crushed egg shells. Slugs will have to bypass such an obstacle. Plants in the beds should be kept in a weed-free state, thinned out in time.

You can fight slugs by picking them up with your hands. To do this, at night, pieces of wet bark or heaps of mowed grass are laid out between the plants, under which the pest will hide. In the morning, the collection of a pest called "big roadside pest" calmly begins by hand, people know many ways, one of them is catching clams with a can of beer, which in this case serves as bait for slippery uninvited guests.

If the above methods did not manage to get rid of slugs and the mass reproduction of pests has already begun, you will have to use chemicals. Currently, new generation products have appeared that do not pose any danger to the environment.

Do you know which animal on the planet ranks first among the toothy ones themselves? Probably, it is very interesting for everyone. Although surprising, the most toothy creature that is not a predator is a large roadside slug. There are approximately 30,000 teeth on his tongue! This grater tongue helps the slug grind all the foods it eats and make

It can be concluded that among the toothy individuals there are not only large predators, but also mollusks, which are among the smallest representatives of the animal world.

Large roadside slug(lat. Limax maximus) - a terrestrial gastropod mollusk of the order of pulmonary snails of the family Limacidae, one of the largest species of slugs.

Members of the species have a very unusual mating mode, during which two individuals hang in the air, suspended from a tree branch or other substrate, using thick strands of slime.

Different representatives may differ in their color:

Limax maximus 6782.jpg

2007 Limax maximus.jpg

Leopard Slug Somerville MA.jpeg

Limax maximus MHNT.jpg

Slug tentacles are very long and slender.

The mantle is oblong, occupying about a third of the entire length of the body. It is rounded in front and angular in back.

The mucus is colorless and not very sticky.

Internal structure

Limax maximus has an inner shell under the mantle cover. This shell was known as early as the time of Pliny the Elder and was used by ancient physicians because of the calcium carbonate it contained. The inner shell is visible through the skin of the mollusk. Shell color is white. The shape is oblong-oval, slightly convex. The length is about 13mm and the width is about 7mm.

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Notes

1. Linnaeus K. The system of nature according to the three kingdoms of nature, according to classes, orders, genera, species, with characteristics, differentiations, synonyms and habitats. Editio decima, reformata. Holmiæ : impensis direct. Laurentii Salvii. 1758. Bl., S. 6-823.
2. Bram A. E. Reptiles. Amphibians. Fish. Invertebrates / ed. prof. A. M. Nikolsky. - M .: Terra, 1992. - T. 3. - S. 400. - 459 p. - (Life of animals). - 300,000 copies.
3. Bouchet P. And Rocroi J.-P. Classification and nomenclator of gastropod families. - Hackenheim: Malacologia: International Journal of Malacology. ConchBooks, 2005. 397 p. ISBN 3-925919-72-4. www.vliz.be/Vmdcdata/imis2/ref.php?refid=78278 (English) - taxonomic book on the classification of gastropod families.
4. M.P. Kerney, A. D. Cameron, J. H. Jungbluth Die Landschnecken Nord- und Mitteleuropas. Verlag Paul Parey. Hamburg und Berlin, 1983. - p. 183. ISBN 3-490-17918-8 (German)
5. Tryon G.W. 1885. Manual of Conchology. Second series: Pulmonata. Testacellidae, Oleacinidae, Streptaxidae, Helicoidea, Vitrinidae, Limacidae, Arionidae. 364 pp., 60 plates, pages -190, figures 31-35, 39; plate 49, figure 76.
6. (English) - photo gallery of the species on the zoological site.
7. Taylor J.W. 1902. part 8, pages 1-52. Monograph of the land and freshwater Mollusca of the British Isles. Testacellidae. Limacidae. Arionidae. Taylor Brothers, Leeds. Introduction , pages -52. (English)
8. Jeffreys J.G. 1862. British conchology: or, an account of the Mollusca which now inhabit the British Isles and the surrounding seas. . -138. (English)
9. Viktor A. 1989. Limacoidea et Zonitoidea nuda. Slimaki pomrowioksztaltne (Gastropoda: Stylommatophora). Fauna Poloniae 12, Polska Akademia Nauk, Warszawa, 208 pp., 165-168. (Polish)
10. Scharff R.F. 1891. . The Scientific Transactions of the Royal Dublin Society, volume IV., series II. Dublin, Royal Dublin Society; London, Williams & Norgate. 513-563. Limax maximus on pages -521. (English)

An excerpt characterizing the Great Roadside Slug

“They were of great intelligence, but now, as you will see, they have weakened,” said Gerasim. - Do you want to go to the office? Pierre nodded his head. - The office was sealed as it was. Sofya Danilovna was ordered, if they come from you, then release the books.
Pierre entered the very gloomy office into which he had entered with such trepidation during the life of the benefactor. This office, now dusty and untouched since the death of Iosif Alekseevich, was even gloomier.
Gerasim opened one shutter and tiptoed out of the room. Pierre walked around the office, went to the cabinet in which the manuscripts lay, and took out one of the once most important shrines of the order. These were genuine Scottish acts, with notes and explanations from the benefactor. He sat down at the dusty writing table and laid the manuscripts in front of him, opened them, closed them, and finally, pushing them away from him, leaning his head on his hands, he thought.
Several times Gerasim carefully looked into the office and saw that Pierre was sitting in the same position. More than two hours have passed. Gerasim allowed himself to make some noise at the door in order to draw Pierre's attention to himself. Pierre did not hear him.
- Will you order the driver to let go?
“Ah, yes,” Pierre said, waking up, hastily getting up. “Listen,” he said, taking Gerasim by the button of his coat and looking down at the old man with his shining, moist, enthusiastic eyes. “Listen, do you know that tomorrow there will be a battle? ..
“They did,” replied Gerasim.
“I ask you not to tell anyone who I am. And do what I say...
- I obey, - said Gerasim. - Would you like to eat?
No, but I need something else. I need a peasant dress and a pistol,” said Pierre, suddenly blushing.
“I’m listening,” said Gerasim after thinking.
Pierre spent the rest of that day alone in the benefactor's office, pacing uneasily from one corner to another, as Gerasim heard, and talking to himself, and spent the night on the bed prepared for him right there.
Gerasim, with the habit of a servant who had seen many strange things in his lifetime, accepted Pierre's relocation without surprise and seemed to be pleased that he had someone to serve. On the same evening, without even asking himself what it was for, he got Pierre a caftan and a hat and promised to get the required pistol the next day. Makar Alekseevich that evening twice, slapping his galoshes, went up to the door and stopped, looking ingratiatingly at Pierre. But as soon as Pierre turned to him, he bashfully and angrily wrapped up his dressing gown and hurriedly left. While Pierre, in a coachman's caftan, purchased and steamed for him by Gerasim, went with him to buy a pistol at the Sukharev Tower, he met the Rostovs.

On September 1, at night, Kutuzov ordered the retreat of Russian troops through Moscow to the Ryazan road.
The first troops moved into the night. The troops marching at night were in no hurry and moved slowly and sedately; but at dawn, the advancing troops, approaching the Dorogomilovsky bridge, saw in front of them, on the other side, crowding, hurrying along the bridge and on the other side rising and flooding the streets and alleys, and behind them - pushing, endless masses of troops. And causeless haste and anxiety seized the troops. Everything rushed forward to the bridge, onto the bridge, into the fords and into the boats. Kutuzov ordered that he be taken around the back streets to the other side of Moscow.
By ten o'clock in the morning on September 2, only the troops of the rear guard remained in the Dorogomilovsky suburb. The army was already on the other side of Moscow and beyond Moscow.
At the same time, at ten o'clock in the morning on September 2, Napoleon stood between his troops on Poklonnaya Hill and looked at the spectacle that opened before him. From August 26 to September 2, from the battle of Borodino to the entry of the enemy into Moscow, during all the days of this anxious, this memorable week, there was that extraordinary autumn weather, always surprising people, when the low sun warms hotter than in spring, when everything glitters in the rare, clean air so that it hurts the eyes when the chest grows stronger and fresher, inhaling the odorous autumn air, when the nights are even warm and when in these dark warm nights from the sky incessantly, frightening and delighting, golden stars are pouring.
On September 2, at ten o'clock in the morning, the weather was like this. The sparkle of the morning was magical. Moscow from Poklonnaya Gora spread out spaciously with its river, its gardens and churches, and it seemed to live its own life, quivering like stars, its domes in the rays of the sun.
At the sight of a strange city with unprecedented forms of extraordinary architecture, Napoleon experienced that somewhat envious and restless curiosity that people experience when they see the forms of an alien life that does not know about them. Obviously, this city lived with all the forces of its life. By those indefinable signs by which, at a long distance, a living body is unmistakably recognized from a dead one. Napoleon from Poklonnaya Gora saw the trembling of life in the city and felt, as it were, the breath of this large and beautiful body.
- Cette ville asiatique aux innombrables eglises, Moscou la sainte. La voila donc enfin, cette fameuse ville! Il etait temps, [This Asiatic city with countless churches, Moscow, their holy Moscow! Here it is, finally, this famous city! It's time!] - Napoleon said and, getting off his horse, ordered the plan of this Moscou to be laid out in front of him and called the translator Lelorgne d "Ideville. "Une ville occupee par l" ennemi ressemble a une fille qui a perdu son honneur, [City occupied by the enemy , is like a girl who has lost her innocence.] - he thought (as he said this to Tuchkov in Smolensk). And from this point of view, he looked at the oriental beauty lying in front of him, which he had never seen before. It was strange to him that, at last, his long-standing, which seemed to him impossible, wish had come true. In the clear morning light, he looked first at the city, then at the plan, checking the details of this city, and the certainty of possession thrilled and terrified him.