226 CHITONID^l. 



the species which we are accustomed to call C. ruber. 

 But although Loven and his scientific countrymen have 

 adopted the correct names, I must confess a want of 

 moral courage in not following their example, believing 

 that the perpetuation of such trifling errors may cause 

 less inconvenience to conchologists in general than the 

 changes necessary to rectify the nomenclature of so 

 many species. Spengler described this Chiton as mini- 

 mus, and Leach (but not Lowe) as latus. 



\. S H>. 9. C. LJSVIS* (Pennant) ^Montagu) ^ M - 



C. lavis, Mont. Test. Brit. p. 2; F. & H. ii. p. 411, pi. Iviii. f. 3. 



BODY oval, inclining to oblong, reddish brown: girdle broad, 

 resembling bair- cloth, covered with numerous minute and 

 closely packed lozenge-shaped scales or spines, wbicb are set 

 horizontally with their points towards the outer margin ; it is 

 of a dark brick-colour irregularly necked with white ; margin 

 fringed with a few scattered and caducous short pinkish spines, 

 which are apparently a continuation of those which cover the 

 girdle. 



SHELL convex : plates broad, solid, opaque, and glossy ; la- 

 teral compartments more or less distinct : sculpture smooth to 

 the naked eye or examined with a lens, but exhibiting under a 

 higher magnifying-power a series of extremely delicate striae, 

 running lengthwise on the middle compartment of each plate, 

 and towards the beak on the side compartments ; the surface 

 is also covered (especially the terminal plates and the side 

 compartments of the other plates) with small tubercles, which 

 are very little raised and scarcely perceptible ; these are the 

 bulbs or extremities of the canals that permeate the fabric of 

 the shell, like the tubular apparatus observable in most of the 

 Brachiopoda ; in young specimens the tubercles are perforated 

 or open ; there are likewise slight parallel lines of growth : 

 ridge more or less prominent, but seldom conspicuous : colour 

 reddish-brown, marbled or veined with white, and sometimes 

 variegated with green, red, pink, or brown, rarely of a uni- 

 form dark brick-colour : beaks strong and projecting : inside 



* Smooth. 



