THE CRESTED ANTIOPA. 325 



whorls of minute, olive-coloured hairs. The other 

 was a rare species, though sufficiently ahundant here; 

 Taonia atomaria, resemhling a thin yellowish leaf, 

 split into several divisions, and cut to somewhat of 

 the shape of a fan. The whole leaf is crossed hy 

 many dark hrown lines, which on being magnified are 

 seen to be composed of dots, clustered together in 

 this manner. These are the spores, or seeds of the 

 plant. 



Among the animals was a creature of exquisite 

 beauty, which I now saw for the first time. It was 

 the Crested Antiopa, one of the naked-gilled MoUusca, 

 closely allied to the Eolides, some of which formed the 

 subjects of observation in an earlier part of this volume. 

 The breathing organs are very numerous; they con- 

 sist of oval bags, delicately pellucid, arranged all 

 round the sides and front of the animal, and have an 

 extremely elegant appearance. Each one has a brown 

 line running through its transparent substance, and is 

 tipped with silver-white. The general colour of the 

 animal is pellucid-grey, with spots and lines of opaque 

 white, that have the lustre of silver. It is about an 

 inch in length. 



This beautiful little animal I brought carefully 

 home, and placed in one of my large glass vases of sea 

 water, kept in a fit state for the support of animal life 

 by growing sea-weeds. It immediately became at 

 home in its new residence, and remained in good 

 health for a considerable period. In about a week it 

 laid on the side of the glass, just beneath the surface 

 of the water, a beautiful coil of spawn, which looked 

 like a necklace of white beads arranged in successive 

 F 2 



