No. 31. HALIOTIS. 



Ear Shell. Inhabitant a Limax. 



Shell ear-shaped, dilated, spire lateral and nearly concealed, and a longi- 

 tudinal row of orifices along the surface. Linnaeus is very particular about 

 the orifices so conspicuous in this genus. It was for this reason that he re- 

 ferred the Helix Haliotides to the Helices rather than to the Haliotis tribe; 

 the shell being destitute of this striking character, though in every other 

 respect it appertains to the Haliotis rather than the Helix genera. One of 

 the imperforate kinds (the Haliotis Imperforata, of Gruelin) was previously 

 described by Hoblins, under the generic appellation of Stonatia ; having the 

 shell of an oval form, and ear-shaped, with the spire prominent, the aper- 

 ture ample, entire, and longer than its breadth, disk imperforate. Haliotis 

 shell, Lister places among the turbinated shells, between the Nerita and Tro- 

 chu's. Gaultieri ranks them among snails, with depressed spires; Adamson, 

 in the first family of spiral shells; and Lamarck, between the Testacelli, 

 (which follows the Helices and Neritae,) and the Vermiculaire, or Serpula. 

 Shells of this kind are very rarely found fossils. 



This species are all marine, and are generally found closely adhering to 

 rocks or stones, within the influx of the tide; and it requires some adroitness 

 to detach them without injury to the shells. The animal is accounted deli- 

 cate food. The species are not numerous. It inhabits the sea, near Guern- 

 sey, and is, likewise, frequently cast upon the southern shores of Devonshire. 

 The animal is attached by so adhesive a property to the surface of the rocks, 

 that it requires the utmost force to disengage it; though, by a spontaneous 

 action, it is able to remove with facility from place to place. 



DIVISION I. Shell perforated. 



Family 1st. Roundish or ovate. 



Scientific name. Locality. Scientific name. Locality. 



Midse, E. In., Maurit., C. G. H. Australis, New Zealand. 



Pulcherrima, King George's Sound. Gigantea, N. Holland, N. S. Wales. 



Virginnea, New Zealand. Iris, New Zealand. 



Tuberculata, Europe, West Indies. Cracherodii, California. 



