Kay Easton wrote:

In article , Mich
writes
This morning ( about 5.am) I found a 3inch long black slug (?) climbing up
my cucumber plant in the greenhouse.

When I got it off ( it was stuck fast and a bit difficult to remove) its
front end was a bit odd in that it was all mouth ( just what appeared to be
a gaping hole at the front, no little horn type things a etc).

What about the back end? Did that also have a sucker thing?
Could it have been a leech?

See the page below (leeches and earthworms are closely related) for pic,
and text reproduced here for convenience.

Leeches In the UK leeches are harmless to humans and mammals. Most of
the 20 or so species are small aquatic species. There are three large
species, Trocheta subviridis, Hirudo medicinalis - the medicinal leech,
now so rare that it is in danger of becoming extinct and Haemopsis
sanguisuga - the horse leech, a harmless predator of small
invertebrates. With the exception of Trocheta subviridis none of these
larger species are found more than a few feet from water. The medicinal
leech has pronounced red markings on its back while the horse leech is
uniform grey or dark green.
Trocheta subviridis - this is a European species of leech, growing up to
8 inches (20cm) long, that was introduced into the UK about 1850. It is
now quite widespread, breeding in water but spending much of its time in
soil where it feeds on earthworms and other invertebrates. It is
completely harmless to mammals (as are all British leeches with the
exception of the endangered species Hirudo medicinalis) but because of
its habit of finding its way into sewage systems and swimming against
the flow of water we regularly used to get specimens sent to us from
doctors. In one case a mother took her 2 children out of the bath and
pulled the plug out. When she went to clean the bath a few minutes later
there were two fat leeches in the bottom of the bath. She put 2 leeches
and 2 children together raced to the nearest hospital!

Why? Getting bitten by a leech (if thats what's implied actually happened)
is hardly a life-threatening emergency. Although you do imply it doesn't
bite mammals....so what was the problem?

Incidentally, Hirudo medicinalis is not the only UK species that is capable
of feeding on mammalian blood....the much more common horse leech does too.

Anita