Mr. C. C. Babington on Linaria sepium. 449 



the vermicular action of the body and foot, which is doubtless 

 much aided by the segmental disposition of the hard parts. It 

 is also possible that the fringed margin may act as a paddle, as 

 well as being subservient to a very opposite action, that of 

 increasing the tenacity of suctional adhesion. As to the bristles 

 that are sometimes seen at the sutures of each valve above the 

 margin, I believe they are accidental or ornamental, and have no 

 particular use in the animal oeconomy ; they only appear in one 

 British species, the C. fascicularis. 



The singular fact of the almost instantaneous rapid natation 

 of the animal before it is even entirely freed from the capsule, 

 leads to a fair presumption that the oviparous germs of all the 

 bivalve and gasteropodous Mollusca have, as they emerge from 

 their larval condition, the power, for a limited time, of locomo- 

 tion, which is accorded them by nature apparently for the 

 purpose of seeking out and conveying themselves to their 

 respective peculiar habitats ; and we learn by the present case 

 that, as soon as a rapid locomotion has accomplished its objects, 

 it ceases, and the animal adopts the phase of progression that is 

 ordained for it. 



I regret that circumstances prevented the examination being 

 carried on beyond the 31st July, but I cannot believe that, after 

 that time, any metamorphosis would have presented itself. 

 During the eight days of inspection no unusual aberrations of 

 form were visible ; nothing appeared but a gradual increase of 

 the organism until it had assumed the figure and attributes of 

 a completed Chiton, which, in the interval I speak of, had 

 attained the length of ^n^li to ^o^^y ^"^^ breadth ^^3-th of an 

 inch. 



It appears, then, that M. Cuvier's determination is correct, 

 that the Chitons are cyclobranchiate Mollusca. 

 I am, Gentlemen, 



Your most obedient servant, 



William Clark. 



XXXVIIL— iVb/e on Linaria sepium, Allman. 

 By Charles C. Babington, M.A., F.R.S. &c.* 



Early in the summer of 1855 I succeeded in obtaining seeds 

 of this plant from roots growing in the Cambridge Botanical 

 Garden which had been originally sent to it by Dr. Allman 

 from Ban don. These seeds were sown in a pot, and produced 

 many plants which flowered in the August and September 

 following. The produce thus obtained shows that my former 



* Read to the Edinburgh Botanical Society, Nov. 8th, 1855. 

 Ann. ^ Mag, N. Hist. Ser. 2. Fo/.xvi. 30 



