U8 JUNE. 



and larval forms of their fellow Mollusca. They are 

 rarely taken alive at a less depth than ten fathoms. 



But we have also an example of a much rarer shell, 

 the Torbay Bonnet, or Cap of Liberty. 1 The shape, 

 which is exactly that of the ancient Phrygian bonnet, 

 or the modern emblem of liberty, is sufficiently com- 

 memorated in all the appellations by which it is known, 

 both scientific and popular. This specimen is but an empty 

 shell, but the freshness of the colours, and the beautiful 

 polish of the interior show that the animal cannot have 

 been long dead, for the porcellaneous smoothness and 

 gloss of shells very soon become defaced after their 

 exposure by the death and decay of the soft parts. The 

 interior of this shell is of a most lovely rose-pink, very 

 glossy, and the exterior is nearly of the same hue, 

 though this is concealed by a horny skin which closely 

 invests it, and is covered with a shaggy pile that pro- 

 jects even beyond the edge, in the form of a ragged 

 yellow fringe. This rough epidermis is of a hue vary- 

 ing from a bright yellow-olive to a dull wood-brown ; 

 it is frequently rubbed off in the upper parts, when 

 the natural hue of the shell is there seen. 



This species is rare enough, and large enough, and 

 handsome enough to be a prize worth finding, when 



1 Pileopsis Jfungaricits, of which a specimen is represented in the atti- 

 tude of life, adhering to the dark rock, in Plate xvn. 



