CALYPTR.EA. 275 



its place of abode. I found some at Sark, living 

 attached to small pebbles, each, pebble having scarcely 

 a broader surface than the circumference of the shell, 

 which closelv fitted the sinuosities of the stone. Both 

 shell and pebble were encrusted by nullipore, and had 

 the same appearance. The mark of adhesion is glossy, 

 but does not show any excavation. The animal must be 

 occasionally zoophagous ; for the authors of the ' British 

 Mollusca ; say, " A Calyptrcea, which we kept in con- 

 finement, swallowed a Goniodoris nodosa preserved in 

 the same vessel." Mediterranean specimens are smaller 

 than ours; one taken by Mr. Jordan at Milford 

 measured an inch in diameter. The fry resembles 

 that of Velutina laevigata in shape and sculpture ; and 

 the animal at this stage of growth has large ciliated 

 neck-lobes, as in other Gasteropoda. According to 

 Auclouin and Milne-Edwards (Hist. litt. de la France, 

 i. p. 133), the female C. Chinensis hatches her eggs, and 

 keeps the fry between her foot and the foreign body to 

 which she adheres ; her patelloid shell thus serves not 

 only to cover and protect herself, but is also a 

 shield for her offspring. The eggs are yellow, and 

 enclosed in membranous capsules, which are flattened, 

 transparent, and filled with an albuminous matter. 

 These little sacs are from six to ten in number, connected 

 one with another by a pedicle, and arranged like the 

 petals of a rose ; each capsule contains ten to twelve 

 eggs. 



China does not seem to have been known to the 

 Romans ; and Linne was quite as good a classic as his 

 emendator Gmelin, who altered the name Chinensis into 

 Sinensis. The synonyms are numerous, and comprise 

 Calyptra canaria, Bonanni, Patella albida, Donovan, 

 P. squamulata, Renier, P. muricata, Brocchi, C. Icevigata, 



