LIMA. 89 



mal of L. hianSj with its thousand delicate and beauti- 

 fully ringed vermilion tentacula, each maintaining, as it 

 were, a life independent of its neighbours, turning and 

 twisting in every direction ; the rich crimson foot and 

 snow-white shell form an object which, to my eyes, is 

 unsurpassed among the British Mollusca." He, however, 

 adds : " There is but one thing I have to say against 

 this interesting molluscan ; and that is, the animal has 

 a peculiar, tenacious, and to me sickening odour : after 

 having handled a number of them it is no easy matter to 

 remove the smell from the hands with soap and water ; 

 and so strong a hold has the nauseous smell sometimes 

 taken on my olfactory nerves that a whole night has 

 scarcely sufficed to remove the impression." Perhaps 

 the nasty smell may be accounted for by presuming that 

 its apartment is never cleaned. When the Lima is first 

 taken out of its case and put into a basin of sea- water, 

 it is exceedingly active and restless, either violently 

 darting round the sides of the vessel, or else gracefully 

 careering about, with its long and thick fringe of fila- 

 ments trailing behind it. In the course of a few minutes 

 it seems to get tired, or reconciled to its prison ; and it 

 then lies on its back, the valves of the shell expanded, 

 and reposes on its own soft luxurious cushion. The 

 filaments at first curl and entwine round one another, 

 a perfect nest of snakes, but afterwards they are with- 

 drawn and become contracted ; a circular inner row, 

 like a coronet, surrounds the slowly-flapping gills ; and 

 the outer rows fold over on each side and form a sort of 

 chevaux de frise. Dr. Landsborough supposed that these 

 filaments were useful to the Lima in catching its prey. 

 He observed that they are very easily broken off, and 

 that they seem to live for many hours after being de- 

 tached from the body, wriggling about like so many 



