﻿MULTIVALVES. 



No. 1. CHITON. 



Coat of Mail Shell. Inhabitant a Donax. 



Part in their pearly shells, at ease attend 

 Moist nutriment; or, under rocks, their food 

 In jointed armor watch. 



According to the Linnaean system, the Chiton is the first shell and animal 

 noticed. The Chitons are natives of the ocean, and are generally found 

 adhering to rocks or stones that are overflowed by the tide, but it possesses 

 the power of removing from its station. The Chiton much resembles the 

 marine wood-house, and has often been mistaken for it, and possesses the 

 same power of rolling itself into a perfect ball. 



The body of the Donax is creeping, oblong, and flat beneath. The mouth 

 is placed below, on the fore-part; vent behind, on the back, and surrounded 

 by a fringe; feelers two or four, situated on the upper part of the body in front, 

 and retractile within the proper receptacles. 



The shell, consisting of several transverse incumbent valves, is disposed in a 

 longitudinal series down the back. We have known very little of this genus 

 until the few last years. So lately as the period in which the 10th edition of 

 the Systema Natura appeared, only four of its species were known; at least, no 

 great number are described by Linnaeus. To the valuable work of Chem- 

 nitz, we are indebted for llie addition of thirteen other species; to Schocter 

 and others, for a further variety; so that Mawc states, at this present time, 

 there are forty of this species known. 



The Chiton takes its name from the Greek y^iruv (Chiton,) a Coat of Mail. 



