Patella tricomis the Operculum ofSerpulce. 621 



motion, except when they were disturbed. A slight move- 

 ment given to the vessel caused them to instantly withdraw 

 out of sight for a few seconds. They, very probably, fed, 

 when in confinement, on the smaller animalcula ; but this I 

 never noticed. I expect that some of your scientific corre- 

 spondents will furnish you with better information, and more 

 illustrative figures, of this worm ; but, if they do not, I will 

 examine it more attentively when I meet with it again, with a 

 view to the Magazine of Natural History. — W. B. B. W. 9 

 Nov. 14. 1832. 



Not any correspondent has fulfilled W. B.'s expectation ; 

 and, as W. B. had not, up to the closing part of April, 

 1835, farther noticed the subject, we then asked of Dr. 

 Johnston of Berwick upon Tweed an identification of the 

 animal treated of in V. 387 — 389. 754, 755., and in W. B.'s 

 sketch and communication, which we referred to him. Dr. 

 Johnston has, in a note dated May 11. 1835, obligingly an- 

 swered as follows : — " The blood-red zoophyte, referred 

 to in the communication now returned, is Xumbricus tubifex 

 /3 Mull., Verm. ii. 27. ; and is very common over all Britain, 

 as I believe. I know of no figure of it; but the one appended 

 to the communication of W. B. is not sufficiently accurate for 

 engraving : it is very like our iumbricus lineatus." [VIII. 

 259.] 



\_A Notice in Confirmation of the Correctness of the Idea con- 

 jectured by Dr. Turton, that the Shell of Patella tricomis is the 

 Operculum qf Serpula vermiculdris L.] — Many of your readers 

 have, doubtless, observed a postscript to Turton's Conchological 

 Dictionary, in which the learned author mentions the fact 

 of his having observed several of his Patella tricomis so si- 

 tuate as " closing up the orifices of the tubes of Serpula tu- 

 bularia" [Serpula wrmicularis L. ; see in VII. 421.] ; and he 

 hence conjectures, that " they may eventually turn out to be 

 the opercula, or lids, of the Serpulae:" yet, as the animal in- 

 habitants of such specimens as he examined were " dead and 

 shrunk deep into the tubes," he could not perceive any kind 

 of attachment, and, therefore, left the decision of this interest- 

 ing point to the result of future observation. Now, I have 

 recently been fortunate enough to take a living specimen of 

 Serpula tubularia, with a Patella tricomis attached to it in 

 such a manner as to leave no doubt whatever of its being the 

 operculum of the Serpula. I have kept the specimen for 

 some days in a living state, and have therefore had ample op- 

 portunity of convincing myself of the fact above mentioned. 

 I am not aware that any one has preceded me in the con- 

 firmation of Turton's conjecture ; and, if not, I trust that this 



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