176 The Naturalist of Cumbrae. 



and old, from the size of a pea to the full-grown state, 

 each having its own separate nest. A remarkable 

 peculiarity of Lima consists in the tenacious grasp of 

 its tentacles. Sometimes when my finger touched 

 the animal, it was rapidly seized by the tentacles, as 

 by those of an Actinia, and so firmly that I have thus 

 dragged the Lima round the tank. It seldom let go 

 its hold till the tentacles were torn away, or, as I 

 believe, voluntarily thrown off by the animal. The 

 tentacles so detached still adhere closely to the object 

 they have grasped, their free ends twisting about 

 as if in conscious life, and they are with difficulty 

 taken off. Notwithstanding this property I frequently 

 find a small crab (Porcellana longicornis) in their nests, 

 and not unfrequently an annelid (Polyno'c)* but 

 almost invariably a greenish gelatinous annelid.f 

 This last kind I have noticed lying across the ten- 

 tacles of a large Lima, which seemed to be quite at 

 its ease, and by no means incommoded by its neigh- 

 bour. I have frequently kept L. Mans in captivity 

 for many months. I have now, January, 1863, one 

 which I took in May last, and it looks in good health. 

 It commenced building in a day or two after it was 

 put into the tank, and has ever since lived under its 

 own roof, adding from time to time to the size of its 

 oblong nest. This word (nest) is, in a wide sense, 

 not inappropriate as applied to the mode of archi- 

 tecture ; but it must not lead to the idea of incu- 

 bation, with which the structure seems in no way 

 connected." 



Mr. Robertson has also witnessed the deposition of 



* Flemingia plumosa, t Perhaps a species of Siphonostoma. 



