159 



of a French frigate," as related by Messrs. Forbes and Hanley from an 

 account given by Professor Valenciennes in the Archives du Museum, 

 Paris, 1839, "visiting Port Natal, observed the tubes of a mollusk pro- 

 jecting from the sand in one of the bays. The sailors endeavoured to 

 draw the creature out of its habitation by the tube, but in vain ; for the 

 siphons, after offering considerable resistance, in every instance gave way, 

 and often were withdrawn entire in spite of the grasp of its persecutor. 

 Curious to know the nature of the being that thus escaped them, they dug 

 for it with spades, and at length uncovered the Panopcea, buried several 

 feet below the surface of the sand, and gregarious." A few years later the 

 Eev. L. B. Larking happened to be residing at Messina during an unusally 

 tempestuous season, when the Panopcea represented at Plate was cap- 

 tured alive. How the creature had been liberated from its muddy bed 

 he could not ascertain, but it was extremely animated, and it lived in a 

 vessel of sea-water several days after. So violent was the sea about this 

 time that many thousands of Argonaut shells were washed ashore, in a 

 manner such as had not been seen before. Mr. Larking himself showed 

 me on his return to England more than twelve hundred which he had 

 brought away ; and he at the same time showed me this Panopaa pre- 

 served in spirits. Subsequently it passed into the possession of W. V. 

 Guise, Esq., of Elmore Court, Gloucester, by whom it was presented to the 

 local museum, and permission was given to Mr. Woodward to open it. 

 On lifting the right side of the mantle and laying bare the internal organs, 

 the whole structure was found to resemble that of Mya arenaria, except 

 in the minor characters of the palpi being shorter and the gills more un- 

 equal. I remember perfectly Mr. Larking describing that he kept the 

 creature alive for some days in a large tub of sea-water, and that for a time 

 it threw its siphonal sheath about with great violence against the sides of 

 the tub, discharging the water vigorously from its anal siphon. But this 

 excitement shortly ceased and the animal became enfeebled and died. 



The shell of an arctic species of smaller size, Panopaa Norvegica, de- 

 scribed by Spengler, was taken a few years since at Scarborough by Mr. 

 Bean, and it has been dredged from a depth of ninety fathoms by Mr. 

 M 'Andrew in the vicinity of Zetland. It has also been captured, according 

 to Mr. Alder, in deep water off the Northumberland and Durham coasts."* 

 This species has the gills more tapering, and more prolonged into the bran- 



* " We have obtained at Scarborough three specimens of this, in every sense of the word, 

 gigantic prize. To some of the fishermen of our coast it appeared to be well known by the 

 name of the ' bacca-box,' from a fancied resemblance to one of their most useful household 

 gods. They were all caught by the hook, and rescued from destruction in a singular manner. 

 The first was destined for a tobacco-box, the second had the honour of holding the grease be- 

 longing to the boat-establishment, and the third, after amusing them (the members of a philo- 

 sophical society) by squirting water to the ceiling, was at last seen by a learned friend, pur- 

 chased for a trifle, and generously placed in our cabinet." — Bean, in Mag. Nat. Hist. vol. viii. 

 p. 562. 



