76 LEPAS ANATIFERA. 



colour, sometimes with a tinge of orange, darkest under 

 the growing edges of the valves j body of animal pale 

 purplish lead-colour. The four posterior cirri blackish 

 purple; the second, and often the third cirrus, appear 

 as if the colour had been laterally abraded off; these 

 latter cirri have sometimes a tinge of orange. In very 

 young specimens, the cirri are only barred with purple. 

 The ova and the contents of the ovarian tubes are of a 

 beautiful azure blue, becoming yellow in spirits. 



In museums a vast amount of difference is seen in the 

 colours of this species, caused by the method of pre- 

 paration : if dried without having been in spirits, and 

 subsequently kept dry, the orange tint round the orifice 

 is preserved; if kept long in spirits, this is quite lost; 

 but sometimes in specimens in spirits the colour of the 

 membrane of peduncle is preserved and rendered pinker. 

 The colours of the sack and animal are either quite dis- 

 charged or rendered extremely dark. The valves them- 

 selves also often become more opaque. In some specimens 

 well preserved in spirits, the sack and cirri were purplish- 

 brown or lead-colour, tinted with dirty green, or orange, 

 or bright yellow, or brick -red. 



General Remarks. — Prom the foregoing description it 

 will be seen how extremely variable almost every part 

 of this species is. I find, in the British Museum, ten 

 distinct specific names given by Dr. Leach to different 

 varieties, or rather to different specimens, for some of them 

 are undistinguishable. A specimen from the Sandwich 

 Islands, sent by Mr. Conrad to Mr. Cuming, is marked 

 A. engonata. 



In looking over a large collection of specimens in a 

 museum, the most distinctive characters appear at first 

 to be the colours, the dentation or barbed condition of 

 the carina, the row of square marks on the scuta and 

 terga, and the more or less produced form of the whole 

 capitulum : all these characters are absolutely worthless 

 as distinctive characters, and blend into each other. In 

 a fresh condition, the colours of this species, and of 



