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Pectens are very variable, but always elegant in fonn ; the colours are 

 frequently lively and brilliant. In Plate XVIII. some of the most 

 striking forms are represented, as in Fig. I., the Ducal Mantle {Peclen 

 pallium), an inhabitant of the Indian Ocean, remarkable for its 

 elegant fonn, its twelve radiating stripes, diverging towards the cir- 

 cumference, the horizontal furrows of its salient scales, and the 

 striking distribution of its white spots upon a bed of red and brown 

 marble; Fig. II., the Purple Pecten ; Fig. III., the Coral Pecten ; 

 Fig. IV., the Tiger Pecten; Fig. V., the Foliaceous Pecten; and 

 Fig. VI., the Northern Pecten. 



The animal which inhabits the shells belonging to this genus has 



Fig. 174. — Pecten pseudamussium (Chenu). 



Fig. 175. — Pecten glaber (Linnseus.) 



the general form of the oyster, differing however from it in a remark- 

 able manner. The edges of the mantle are furnished widi multiplied 

 fringes of simple tentacles, between which we find other tentacular 

 appendages a little thicker, each terminating in a sort of small pearl, 

 vividly coloured, which has been taken for an eye, and to which is 

 attached a nervous thread. Another difference is that the branchiae, in 

 place of being connected to each other and the mantle lobes forming 

 as in Ostrea a complete branchial chamber, here are crescent-shaped, 

 and are quite unconnected posteriorly, and have excurrent canals. 

 The mouth is provided with foliaceous lips, and a foot is present, 

 somewhat finger-like, grooved, and byssiferous when young. 



While the oyster shell is completely fixed to its bed, the Pecten is, 

 on the contrary, perfectly free, and shifts from place fo place, moving 

 in the water even with a certain amount of agility ; by smartly closing 



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