216 



CHAPTEE XXXV. 



' CAN IMAGINATION TRACE ?' ' SEA-HARE,' OR APLYSIA. — ANIMAL DE- 

 SCRIBED. — PURPLE JUICE. — SUPERSTITION. PLEUROBRANCHUS. 



APLYSIAD^ AND PLEUBOBRANCHID^. 



These two families, each containing one genus, seem to be 

 naturally placed between the Bullidm and the Nudibranchi- 

 ate mollusca. Some of them are very beautiful when seen 

 living in their native element, with their flowing lobes ex- 

 panded and in motion. Having distinct heads, with ear- 

 shaped appendages, they look more like crouching quadru- 

 peds than the generality of molluscs ; although, to complete 

 the fancied resemblance, and satisfy the imagination, we 

 must, like Dickens's Duchess, "make believe very much/' 



I. Aplysia, forming in itself the family which takes its 

 name, is represented by one species in the British seas, the 

 A, 



