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Index of Subjects very, very cool. thank you for such a great, in depth response! i suppose not many can say they've seen that. it was quite beautiful. :) jen >From: "Wild Flora" <herself@wildflora.com> >Reply-To: naturens@chebucto.ns.ca >To: <naturens@chebucto.ns.ca> >Subject: RE: [NatureNS] slug love? >Date: Thu, 2 Aug 2007 17:42:51 -0300 > >Thank you, Jen, for giving the the opportunity to quote the following. >(We'll see if it gets past the censors.): > >According to the Western Society of Malacologists "Field Guide to the Slug" >(Sasquatch Books), > >"Although slugs are hermaphroditic, each animal equipped with both male and >female reproductive organs, they mate with themselves only if no other >slugs >are around. ... The actual exchange of sperm is preceded by an elaborate >courtship ritual, which supposedly reduces the chances of two individuals >of >separate species mating and giving rise to hybrids. > >"During courtship, two slugs will circle each other, often for hours, with >both partners engaged in ritualized bouts of lunging, nipping, and >sideswiping with their tails. The two slugs may also display their >disproportionately large sex organs. ... > >"'The sight of a courting pair of slugs majestically circling one another >and ceremoniously rasping each other's flanks while they solemnly wave >their >enormous penises overhead puts the most improbably athletic couples of >Pompeii and Khajuraho into a more appropriate and severely diminished >perspective,' note researchers C. David Rollo and William G. Wellington. >'Athletic' is an even more appropriate adjective for great gray garden >slugs, which are able to copulate in midair, suspended by stretchy strands >of mucus up to 17 3/4 (45 cm) long." > >In short, it seems likely that you caught a couple of great gray garden >slugs in flagrante dilecto. What you saw hanging from them was probably >their swollen genital areas. It wouldn't have been egg, as these are laid >later, in a more conventional (i.e., chicken-like) fashion, or babies as >the >eggs don't hatch for several weeks, if not longer. > >The great gray garden slug, Limax maximus, is from Eurasia but apparently >is >not considered a pest species as it eats mainly decaying material. It's >fairly recognizable because it has leopardlike spots or on the mantle, >often >with a striped body. Photo at http://www.hiltonpond.org/ThisWeek000608.html > > >-----Original Message----- >From: naturens-owner@chebucto.ns.ca [mailto:naturens-owner@chebucto.ns.ca] >On Behalf Of jen cooper >Sent: Thursday, August 02, 2007 10:36 AM >To: naturens@chebucto.ns.ca >Subject: [NatureNS] slug love? > >last night i found two slugs hanging on a mucous thread from the side of my >house. they were entwined in a really beautiful spiral. there was >something > >hanging from them. it came from each of them and looked like it originated >behind their heads. but it was dark and i didnt want to disturb them too >much so i'm really not sure... it was fleshy and also wrapped in a spiral >around the other. i would guess that this was iether sex organs or perhaps >little baby slugs? they looked sluggy but where smaller and whitish and so >entwined that i could not pick out any characteristics like antenae or >anything. > >when i went back later to check on them one slug was on the step below and >the other was on the mucous thread, i imagine eating it. there were no >fleshy bits present then. does anyone have any idea what i witnessed? any >slug love experts? > >:) jen > >_________________________________________________________________ >Show Your Messenger Buddies How You Really Feel >http://www.freemessengeremoticons.ca/?icid=EMENCA122 > > _________________________________________________________________ Share More On Messenger with a Windows Live Space http://spaces.live.com/?mkt=en-ca
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