m 



have great reafon to believe are aftually the fame; for be- 

 tween thefe, the medium in fize and colour, witli a flight ap- 

 pearance of the fibrous epidermis has occurred, which leaves 

 very little doubt that no other young of the Modiolus will 

 ever be obtained than the barhatus. 



Since the above was written for the prefs, we are happy 

 to find a coincidence of opinion with rcfpe6l to the two laft 

 named fliells, of two refpedlable concliologifts, who have 

 lately favoured the public with their conjoint obfervatioris. 

 At the fame time we cannot help exprefllng our furprife that 

 they fliould have united our Mytilus difcors and dijcrepansy 

 two fpecies fo ellentially different, both in habit and manners, 

 as never before to have admitted of a doubt. Both thefe 

 fliells were well difcriminated on the coafl: of Scotland by 

 the srentlemen to whom we have referred for the valuable 

 additional remarks on this fpecies. We can therefore only 

 attribute fuch an opinion to the want of fpecimens of each for 

 comparifon ; and we are the more inclined to this opinion by 

 confuhing fig. 8 and 9 in Tab. 3, of vol. 8 of the Transa£lions 

 of the Linnean Society. To refcue therefore a fpecies from 

 oblivion whofe diftinctixe cliara61;ers are fo much more 

 flrongly marked than many others of the genus, which per- 

 liaps have remained divided more, bccaufe preceding natu- 

 ralifts of celebrity had given them dillin6l places, tlian from 

 any perfonal conviction of modern conchoJogifts, is obvioufly 

 neceffary, and tiie more fo in proportion to the weight of 

 the authority of the diffenting opinions. Under fo decided 

 a convi^lion it would have been highly blameable to remain 



filent, 



