C A R I N A R I A 



Plate I. 



Genus CARINARIA, Laiiicirck. 



Ttsla pilei/ormis, tennissiwa, pdlucido-vitrea, coiiceiilrice 

 corruyatn, dorso laminato-carinato, apice spiraVUer 

 nnciiialo. 



Shell cap-shaped, very thin, transparent glassy, concentri- 

 cally wrinkled, back laminately keeled, apex spirally 

 hooked. 



The very delicate, transparent, cap-shaped shell, long 

 known to conchologists as the ' Glassy Nautilus,' has no 

 relation with the cephalopod of that name. It belongs 

 externally to a niollusk many times larger than itself, of 

 very curious structure anil habit. The Carbiaria is an 

 oblong gelatinous mass, swollen and transparent, having 

 afone end a well-developed head, with tentacles and eyes, 

 and a powerfully armed proboscis, while the viscera and 

 branchiic are gathered together in an external nucleus, 

 situated almost at its other extremity. The only organ 

 contained in this gelatinous mass is a gut of connection 

 between these distant parts, the head and the external vis- 

 ceral and branchial nucleus, and it is as a cap-like cover- 

 ing to the latter that this wonderfully delicate and brittle 

 shell is developed. The Carinaria is an oceanic swimmer, 

 darting about with some rapidity, by means of a ventral 

 tin, provided with a sucker for obtaining attachment to 

 any foreign botly when at rest. 



In the Indian Ocean, [ robably in the neighbourhood of 

 the Moluccas, is a fine species, C. vi/rea, of which the 

 shell has been known for a century and more, but there is 

 no record of the animal ever having been observed. Of 

 the Mediterranean species, C. fragiUs,i\\e animal has been 

 freqnently captured, and a few specimens of a small 

 species, C. Atlantica, were taken in the trawl at twilight, 

 by Capt. Sir E. Belcher, in the North Atlantic Ocean, in 

 the ' Samarang.' M. D'Orbigny has described a species, 

 ("'. punctata, in his 'Voyage dans rAmerique meridionale,' 

 but it is unknou'U to me. 



Species 1. (Fig. n, Ij. Mus. Cuming.) 



C.\RIN.\RIA FRAGILIS. Ctii: ti-stfi siifjdfjiremi, apin cuii- 



spiciii invotiito. 

 The fragile Carinaria. Shell rather depressed, apex 



conspicuously involute. 

 BoRY DE St. Vincent, Voy. aux lies d'Afrique, vol. i. 



p. 143. pi. 6. f. 4. 



Carinaria Mediterranea, Deshayes. 

 Halj. Mediterranean. 



Cliietly distinguished by its depressed form, and conse- 

 quent involution of the apex. 



Species 2. (Fig. a, Ij, c, Mus. Cuming.) 



Carinakia vitrea. Car. testa mberectd, apict purniii 



iiirolittu. 

 The glassy Carinaria. Shell rather erect, with the 



apex but little involute. 

 Jfa/ttiliis vitreus, Argenville, Couch. Ajip. pi. I. f. B. 



Patella cristata, Linnasus. 



Aryonanta vitrea, Gmelin. 



Fatella vitrea, Schroeter. 



Carinaria vitrea, Lamarck. 



Carinaria gracilis. Reeve. 

 Ilah. Indian Ocean. 



Uniforudy of large size, more attennately erect, with the 

 apex only moderately involute. 



Species 3. (Mus. • ?) 



Carinaria Atlantica. Car. testa pared, mudici' de- 



pressd, apice subinvoluto, carina lata. 

 TuE Atlantic Carinaria. Shell small, moderately 



depressed, with the apex rather involute, keel broad. 

 Adams and Reeve, Moll. Voy. Samarang, p. fi3. pi. 13. 



f. 12. 

 Hub. North Atlantic Ocean. 

 A small, broad-keeled species. 



June, 1865. 



