36 POPULAR BRITISH CONCHOLOGY. 



lake. In Mr. Cuming's collection are some remarkably 

 distorted Mya of this species from the sluices of Ostend, 

 where their deformities are most likely also due to the per- 

 nicious influence of the fresh water. To the same cause we 

 may attribute the numerous and singular varieties of this 

 shelly such as the so-called species M. lata and pullus, 

 found in the mammaliferous crag of the east of England, a 

 formation in which many of the mollusca are deformed: 

 the melting of the icebergs which then chilled our region 

 doubtless furnished the disturbing medium. These dan- 

 gerous and disastrous consequences of too great an imbibi- 

 tion of the * pure element' present a timely warning to the 

 votaries of teetotalism.'' 



Por my part, although no "teetotaller/' I confess that 

 the above remarks have failed to inspire me with any very 

 great dread of pure water ; and I can only hope that the 

 learned authors of the ^ History' will themselves avoid the 

 " dangerous and disastrous consequences " alluded to by 

 mixing a sufficient quantity of salt with the water they 

 drink. 



PANOPJEA. 



The shell of the Panopcea Norvegica is not unlike that of 

 My a truncata; it is however more solid, and has no spoon- 



