90 PECTINID.E. 



worms. The fry are of the same shape as the adult, and 

 have slight but distinct ribs. 



The habit of making a case or " nest " appears to be 

 common everywhere ; nor is it restricted to full-grown 

 individuals. The Rev. R. N. Dennis informs me that he 

 found at Herm certainly more than one hundred speci- 

 mens of the variety thus enclosed, and that they were 

 of all ages, but mostly young. He adds, " The nests 

 were generally fixed under good-sized stones at low- 

 water mark, and were broken in turning over the 

 stones, when the Limas swam off in all directions. The 

 largest number I found in one nest was, I think, seven ; 

 the largest and oldest-looking specimens were alone in 

 the nest. I did not find a single specimen out of a nest. 

 The Herm people call them ' Angels'-wings/ " The nest 

 of L. hians measures from two to ten inches in length, 

 according to the age and size of the occupier and the 

 supply of materials. It somewhat resembles the case 

 made by certain species of Mytilus (or Modiola), and 

 has no analogy to the nest of birds and some fishes, 

 being permanently inhabited by the Lima itself, or a 

 colony of them. The fry are always left to provide for 

 themselves, and do not require any parental care. This 

 kind of " nest-hunting," therefore, is not a cruel, though 

 an unusual sport. In a review of my first volume in 

 ' Blackwood's Magazine/ the writer referred the pursuit 

 of natural history to a Nimrod instinct. Perhaps, after 

 all, he touched the right chord ; for although we dignify 

 hunting for shells, insects, and flowers by the imposing 

 names of Conchology, Entomology, and Botany, such 

 researches may partake as much of an innate love of 

 sport as of the spirit of scientific inquiry. Dredging 

 for Lima's nests is at any rate an amusement more 

 suitable to grave naturalists, than looking after the eggs 



