PECTEN. 273 



at various depths of water, resting in a horizontal position, 

 with the less convex and most brilliantly coloured valves 

 usually upwards. They are active animals, capable of 

 making their way through the water, by flapping their 

 valves together, with great rapidity. Those which have 

 the upper valve quite flat or concave, have been distin- 

 guished generically by the name of Janira^ but the tran- 

 sitions of form in the genus and the characters of the 

 animal, forbid such artificial distinction. 



P. vARius, Linnaeus. 



Echinated, very rarely, pure white ; about 28 much-elevated 

 ribs ; ears very unequal. 



Plate L. fig. 1. 



Lister, Anim. Angl. pi. 4, f. 30. — Knorr, Delices des Yeux, pt. 

 5, pi. 13, f. 2, and pt. 6, pi. 9, f. 4. 



Ostrea varia, Linn. Syst. Nat. ed. 12, p. 1146. — Penn. Brit. Zool. ed. 4, vol. iv. 

 p. 101, pi. 61, fig. 64. — PuLTENEY, Hutchins, Hist. Dorset, p. 

 36. — DoNOv. Brit. Shells, vol. i. pi. 1, f. 1. — Maton and Rack. 

 Trans. Linn. Soc. vol. viii. p. 97. — Rack. Dorset Catalog, p. 38, 

 pi. 10, f. 1,2, 4,5,7, 9.— TuRT. Conch. Diction, p. 130.— Born, 

 Mus. Goes. Vind. p. 104.-Poli, Test. Sicil. vol. ii. p. 163, pi. 28, 



f. 10. — DiLLw. Recent Shells, vol. i. p. 260 Mawe, Linn. Con- 



chology, pi. 14, f. 4. — Index Testaceolog. pi. 10, f. 31. 



Pecten „ Chemn. Conch. Cab. vol. vii. p. 331, pi. 66, f. 633, 634. — Mont. 

 Test. Brit. p. 146. — Turt. Dithyra Brit. p. 214. — Flem. Brit. 

 Animals, p. 384. — Macgilliv. Moll. Aberdeenshire, p. 224. — 

 Brit. Marine Conch, p. 118. — Lam. Anim. s. Vert. (ed. Desh.) 

 vol. vii. p. 1 47. — Crouch, Introd. Conch, pi. 12, f. 4. — Sowerby, 

 Conch. Manual, f. 17L — Philippi, Moll. Sicil. vol. i. p. 84, and 

 vol. ii. p. 58.-^Sow. Thesaur. Conch, vol. i. p. 76, pi. 19, f. 214, 

 218.— Hanl. Recent Shells, vol. i. p. 285, pi. 10, f. 31. 

 " monotis, Da Costa, Brit. Conch, p. 151. pi. 10, f. 1,2, 4, 5, 7, 9. 



Among our commonest, but likewise among our most 

 beautiful shells, may be reckoned the Pecten varius, the 

 infinite diversity of whose colouring has induced the in- 



VOL. II. N N 



