184 GALEOMMID.dE. 



A. imbricata, or an allied species from the West Indies, 

 enclosing the dried remains of the animal, and marked 

 in his handwriting " Area rostrata, Plymouth." Mr. 

 Leckenby found a dead specimen and an odd valve of 

 the same species in a mass of Filograna complexa, which 

 was brought to him by a fisherman from the Dogger 

 bank. I merely notice the occurrence of these shells 

 with a view to further inquiry. 



Family VII. GALEOM'MIDJE, Gray. 



Bolt oval, compressed, thick and fleshy: mantle closed, 

 except in front for the passage of the foot, and at each end, 

 where a tube is formed for alimentary and excretal purposes ; 

 it has two lobes, one of which is folded externally over the 

 shell, and the other is internal, and has its margin fringed 

 with cirri or filaments and is studded with ocelli : gills two on 

 each side : foot large and flexible : byssus strong. 



Shell oblong, equivalve, nearly equilateral, pearly and 

 reticulated, gaping widely in front : cartilage internal : hinge 

 toothless. 



This curious and anomalous family consists of only 

 one genus and one species, so far as concerns the British 

 mollusca ; and neither the family nor that genus is well 

 represented abroad. It is related to the last family 

 through Area, and to the next family (Kelliidce) through 

 Lepton ; but it cannot be placed in either, consistently 

 with the ordinary principles of classification. The ani- 

 mal of Galeomma has ocelli, like some species of Area ; 

 and the shell of each has a straight hinge-line, and a 

 large opening on the opposite side — for the passage of 

 the foot in the one case, and of the byssus in the other. 

 But the shell of Galeomma is covered by a fold of the 

 mantle, instead of by an epidermis, and for the external 

 ligament of Area is substituted an internal cartilage ; 



