LEPAS. 27 



very closely allied, but differs in being tinged with purple, in 

 havino - the base and sides angular, and the surface less rough- 

 ened with longitudinal threads ; the valves are generally so 

 closely united, that the line of separation is seldom apparent, 

 but Mr. Wood has figured a specimen from Mrs. Mawe's 

 Collection, in which there are broad interstices. From a 

 description among his manuscripts in Sir Joseph Banks's li- 

 brary, it appears that Dr. Solander found this shell at Ota- 

 heite, and considered it to be only a variety of the foregoing 

 species. 



A ## ** With a Cup-like Appendage at the Base. 



spongeosus. 28. Shell formed of two cones con- 

 nected by a ligament at their base, of which 

 the upper is six-valved and spinous. 



Lepas spongeosus. Wood's Conch, p. 47. 

 Balanus spongeosus. Montagu Sup. p. 2. t. 17. f. 4 to 6. 

 Dorset Catalogue, p. 25. 



Inhabits sponge on the sea-coast at Weymouth, very rare. Mr. 

 Bryer. 



For a knowledge of this extremely curious species we are in- 

 debted to Mr. Montagu, from whose more particular ac- 

 count the following description is extracted. — " Length, half 

 an inch, and the breadth rather less ; shell ovate, with six an- 

 gulated wrinkled compartments terminated in much elevated 

 points, and furnished with numerous spines ; the three ante- 

 rior divisions are broader and not so long as the three poste- 

 rior ones ; these terminate in a flat concentrically wrinkled 

 base, beneath which is affixed a cup, whose margin corres* 

 ponds with the circumference of the base, and to which it is 

 connected by a ligament ; the cup when deprived of the epi- 

 dermis is white, and exactly resembles Patella antiquata in- 

 verted, but the rest of the shell is livid-brown, and purplish 

 towards the summit. It is found imbedded in a particular 

 kind of sponge allied to Spongia tubulosa, exposing nothing 

 but the pointed valves of its operculum." It appears to me 

 that this and the following species should be moved to a se- 

 parate genus, and Mr. Montagu, at page 4 of his Supple- 

 ment, has mentioned another species which belongs to the 

 same family. 



galeata. 29. Shell formed of two cones, connect- 



