HALIOTIS. 



277 



Genus HALIO'TIS ^ Linne. PL VII. f. 1. 

 Characters corresponding with those of the family. 



Aristotle called it XeTra? aypia, adding that it was the 

 OaXaTTtov ov^ of others. It is mentioned by Athenseus 

 as exceedingly nutritious, but indigestible. The Eolians 

 gave it the pretty name of Venus^s ear. It is the 

 " Mother of Pearl '' or " Norman shell '^ of old English 

 writers, " ormier " (contracted from oreille de mer) of the 

 French, "lapa burra^^ of the Portuguese, ^'^ orecchiale" 

 of the Italians, and " patella reale '' of the Sicilians. It 

 adheres to rocks like the limpet. Its food appears, how- 

 ever, to be different from that of the Patella, according 

 to the observations of Mr. Daniel, which will be given 

 in the account of H. tuber culata. This inhabits the littoral 

 zone ; but a Japanese species lies deeper under water, 

 and is procured only by diving. Cuvier found every indi- 

 vidual which he examined to have an ovary; and he 

 therefore concluded that the Haliotides were hermaphro- 

 dites. His view was adopted by Feiderin his essay ^De 

 Halyotidum structura.' Half a century has since 

 elapsed ; and it is full time to have more definite infor- 

 mation on a subject which is so easy for any physiologist 

 to determine. The arrangement of teeth on the lingual 

 ribbon agrees generally with that oiFissurella ; it is more 

 complicated than the Trochidan form. According to 

 Adanson, the maritime negroes of Senegal esteemed 

 one species of Haliotis a great delicacy; other kinds 

 are said to constitute part of the multifarious food of 

 the Japanese and Chinese ; and H. tuber culata is habi- 

 tually eaten by the poor in the north of France and our 

 Channel Isles, where it is occasionally cooked and served 



* Sea-ear. 



