A APLYSIID.E. 



snout as in Jeffreysia. Their food mainly consists of 

 seaweeds ; but they eat also other Mollusca, as well as 

 small Crustacea and Annelids; they probably inhabit 

 only the laminarian zone. No member of this or the 

 next two families appears to be known on the other side 

 of the Atlantic. While copulating, the individual which 

 performs the functions of the male is partly enveloped 

 in the side folds of the other's foot on its back. They 

 are, like rabbits, salacious and prolific. The spawn has 

 been aptly called by Delle Chiaje " vermicelli di mare/' 

 from its resemblance to the popular eatable of the Nea- 

 politans. The gills are supplied with water through the 

 oval aperture of the mantle where the shell is uncovered. 

 The varied colour which ornaments most of this family 

 is quite superficial and is easily removed by even a 

 slight degree of friction. Ranges ' Histoire naturelle des 

 Aplysiens } is elaborate and beautifully illustrated, but it 

 is now forty years old. Another monograph, suited to 

 the present state of science, is much wanted. The 

 family name has been spelt in many different ways 

 (besides those which I have given) by Lamarck, De 

 Blainville, Deshayes, Gray, and Agassiz. 



Genus APLY'SIA*, (Laplysia) Linne. PL I. f. 1. 



BODY smooth and lubricous. 



SHELL triangular or squarish ; it is composed of two layers, 

 the outer one being horny or membranous, and the inner one 

 semicalcareous. 



Apparently unknown to Aristotle. The Greeks after- 

 wards called this animal \aycobs OdXdo-cnos, the Romans 

 lepus marinus, the English ' ' sea-hare," > the French 



* Perhaps by mistake for a kind of sponge described by Aristotle, and 

 called by him airXvaia from the impossibility of cleansing it. 



