54 TESTACELLID^E. 



Faure Biguet, who first discovered the animal, 

 called it Testacellus ; Draparnaud and Cuvier have 

 changed the name to Testacella. 



The animals, according to the observations of M. 

 Ferussac, have a peculiar mantle (or rather ap- 

 pendage of the mantle), which is simply gelatinous, 

 contractile, and habitually hidden under the shell, 

 divided into several lobes, and susceptible of an 

 extraordinary development, so as to envelope the 

 whole of the contracted body of the animal, and 

 thus protect it from extreme drought. 



The animals live for the greater part of their life 

 in holes under ground, only coming to the surface 

 to change their locality ; and they remain buried 

 during the cold or very dry weather. It is this 

 power of protecting themselves from the effect of 

 sudden changes of temperature, there is little doubt, 

 that has allowed them to adapt themselves with such 

 facility to our climate. 



They deposit their eggs under ground ; these are 

 oblong, large and covered with a thick elastic coat, 

 and burst when put into a warm place. 



12. 1. TESTACELLUS haliotideus. Ear-shaped Tes- 

 tacelle. Shell roundish-oval, with the outer lip 

 dilated, and the pillar flat and broad, and scarcely 

 reflected outwardly. The lateral grooves of the 

 body close together in the front of the shell. 

 Tongue with 20 longitudinal series of teeth, (t. 3. 

 fig. 19, 20.) 



Testacellus haliotideus. Faure, Big. Bid. Soc. Phil. 1802, 98.; 

 Ferussac, Hist. t. 8. f. 5. 9 ; Sowerby, Gen. f. 1, 2. ; Moq. 



