208 INTRODUCTION TO CONCHOLOGY. 



abundant, not a single Haliotis has ever been discovered, 

 and only one small species, the H. imlclienhna (or, the very 

 beautiful Haliotis), in the islands of the Pacific. They 

 inhabit the coasts of China and Japan, of Ceylon, Mozam- 

 bique, and the Cape of Good Hope, with those of Borneo 

 and the Philippine Islands ; but the most remarkable are 

 from New Zealand and the continent of New Holland, 

 and these invariably present all that peculiarity of design 

 which characterizes the Pauna of those isolated regions. 



The same distinctiveness is discoverable also in the 

 Haliotis tuherculata of the Channel Islands. The species, 

 although comparatively abundant at Jersey, is rarely col- 

 lected on the coasts of England. 



Haliotides are found at low water, attached to the under 

 surfaces of masses of stone. Their sense of hearing is 

 apparently very acute, for the slightest alarm causes them 

 to adhere with great force to the rocks, by means of 

 suction. 



Many of the shells are extremely beautiful. The magnifi- 

 cent Haliotis Cunninghamii, brought from Australia and New 

 Zealand, is finely sculptured on the outside with wrinkled 

 striae ; the colour is of a light rusty red, variegated with 

 flame-like patches of blended green and brown. The fine 



