98 LEPAS FASCICULARIS. 



ovigerous frsena large with sinuous margins, the glan- 

 dular beads being arranged in groups. 



She. — The largest specimen (from the coast of Devon- 

 shire) had a capitulum 1*6 of an inch long, and 1*2 

 broad, and of unusual thickness. 



Colours, after having been in spirits : front surfaces of 

 the segments of the cirri and of the pedicels purple. 

 In some specimens from off Borneo, parts of the sack 

 and the interspaces between the two scuta, were of a fine 

 purple. Montagu states, that the whole shell and body 

 of animal, when fresh, are pale blue, with the cirri spotted 

 with brown. 



General Remarks. — The extreme variability of this 

 species is remarkable. In the College of Surgeons, there 

 is a group of specimens collected by Mr. Bennett, I 

 believe, in the Atlantic, in which the extreme narrowness 

 of the carina and of the terga (PI. I, fig. 6, b, c) 

 (with consequent wide spaces of membrane left between 

 these valves), led me, at first, to entertain no doubt, that 

 it was quite a distinct species, which was strengthened 

 by finding that the whole surface of the cirri were villose, 

 with very minute spines ; hence I called this variety, 

 vittosa. On the closest examination, however, I could 

 detect no other differences, and the narrowness of the 

 carina and terga varied very considerably: moreover, in 

 one of the specimens, which was about intermediate in 

 the form of its valves between this variety and the com- 

 mon form, the surfaces of the cirri were not in the least 

 degree villose. Again, in some other specimens, the 

 terga were as narrow as in Mr. Bennett's, whilst the 

 carina had its usual outline. 



In a var. (called by Leach, P. Donova?ii,) from the 

 Atlantic, under the Equator, the carina is remarkable from 

 the extreme flatness of the upper part, and from the pre- 

 sence of an exterior, narrow, central ridge. In one 

 specimen from Jersey, in the British Museum, the carina 

 made an extremely near approach to this same form. 



Affinities. — This species is certainly much the most 



