RANDOM NOTES ON NATURAL HISTORY. 



39 



on the ocean rocks at Newport, and far 

 up the river where the water is onl}' slightly 

 salt. 



44. LiTTORINA RUDIS, DONOVAN, 1800. 



This shell has more than twenty different 

 names. It is very variable in size, shape, 

 etc., and these varieties have been named 

 over and over again by different authors. 

 It inhabits from Long Island to the Arctic 

 Ocean ; Greenland, Iceland, and Europe, 

 and as far south as Spain. The English 

 shells are much larger and more solid than 

 the American, but a variety found there, 

 and called Littoriua patula, Jeffries, almost 

 exactly resembles our Rhode Island species. 

 Gould gives its length as one-half inch, 

 breadth, two-fifths; but in this little state 

 shells do not seem to attain the size of 

 those in Massachusetts ; at least, some 

 species do not. 



This species is found in company with 

 the preceding, on rocks, but generally much 

 higher. The}' are the first shells to be 

 uncovered by the tide, and are often to be 

 found above high- water mark, where they 

 are onl}' occasionallj' reached b\' the spra}'. 

 The}' frequent old wharves, and are found 

 more plentifull}' on small stones than palli- 

 ata, which prefers rocks. 



The principal distinguishing character- 

 istics of rudis and palliata are as follows : 

 Rudis has an elevated spire, with a distinct 

 sutural line ; palliata, as described above, is 

 precisely opposite ; the surface of rudis is 

 covered with conspicuously cut revolving 

 lines ; palliata is smooth and shining ; the 

 lip in rudis is compressed in front so as to 

 form an angle ; in palliata it is nearly 

 round, and the color of the shell is gen- 

 erally of a uniform ash}' gray, or slightly 

 yellowish or olive, although sometimes 

 banded with white, but does not exhibit the 

 variety of colors of palliata. There are 

 several other minor points of difference, 

 but these will sufficiently distinguish the 

 species. 



45. LiTTORlNA TENEBROSA, MONTAGUE. 



Prof. A. E. Verrill, in Invertebrate Ani- 

 mals of Vineyard Sound, page 357, 1874, 

 considers this species only a variety of 

 rudis, but most authors will not indorse this 

 opinion, and, I think, although it resembles 

 rudis very much, its habitat and a close 

 examination ot the shell and animal will 



prove its non-identity. The three species, 

 palliata, rudis, and tenebrosa, inhabit the 

 same extended range, but not the same 

 kind of locality. It is found in salt 

 marshes, on stems of grass and on mud. 

 When the tide comes in it tries to avoid it 

 by climbing up the stems of the grass, and 

 as the tide retires it crawls downward. It 

 observes the same peculiarity of habit when 

 found, as it sometimes is, upon wharves 

 and bridges where the water is sluggish. It 

 would not be found where the current is 

 strong, as under India Point or Red 

 bridge, or on rocks, or exposed to the surf 

 of the open ocean. It is covered by the 

 salt water but a very brief period during 

 the day, and can live out of the water sev- 

 eral days. The animal has a dark, olive 

 head ; that of palliata is orange. The shell 

 is about the size of Littorina rudis, with a 

 spire not so elevated as in rudis, but more 

 so than in palliata ; it has five or six 

 whorls (one more than the other two), 

 marked with revolving lines, but not so 

 heavily as in rudis ; its color is dark 

 brown, checkered with interrupted lines or 

 spots of buff color ; this is the most promi- 

 nent characteristic ; the interior of the 

 aperture is purplish brown, that of rudis is 

 brown edged with yellowish white, and that 

 of palliata is tinged by whatever color the 

 exterior happens to be. 



46. Littorina littorea, Linn. 



This shell is the periwinkle par excellence ; 

 the most abundant shell of Northern PZu- 

 rope, and is consumed as an article of food 

 in immense quantities. Two thousand tons 

 are annually eaten in London alone, era- 

 ploying a thousand people in gathering it. 

 In Liverpool every street corner has its 

 winkle stand, kept by old women, who sell 

 the luscious univalve, boiled and ready to 

 be eaten, just as we have, in their season, 

 baked peanuts, roasted chestnuts, etc.. 

 The animals are picked out with a pin, and 

 the shell thrown in the gutter. 



In some manner, this species was intro- 

 duced into Halifax, N. S., where it became 

 naturalized, and has gradually spread down 

 the coast. In a paper by the writer, read 

 before the Providence Franklin Society, 

 Nov. 21, 1871, the remark was made, 

 that " this species has been found on the 

 {Continued on pac/e xix.) 



