300 Rev. R. T. Lowe on Melampus, &)C. 



designated it in my MSS. by the generic name of Erpetometra; derived 

 from its peculiar manner of crawling. This appellation I had since 

 purposed changing into Truncatella : the very name by which I find the 

 self-same species designated by Risso, in his Histoire Nat. &c. de I'Europe 

 Meridionale. In this work, however, the genus rests, like very many 

 others of the same writer, on most unsubstantial grounds ; the animal 

 being entirely neglected. The name therefore being settled by Risso's 

 priority in publication, nothing remains but to supply the last mentioned 

 deficiency ; and to indicate the species that vnW probably be found to 

 agree in the above characters. 



The following extracts are made more with the view of confirming the 

 marine nature of Melampus, than to settle the question in respect to the 

 present genus ; whose proper abode does not seem to have been so much 

 a subject of doubt. 



Experiment 15. 

 ^pril 28f 1827. A single specimen of Cydostoma truncatulum^ 

 Drap., found alive on the north coast of Ponta Sao Lauren50, 

 under large stones on the beach, a little below high-water 

 mark ; in company with specimens of Melrnnpiis aqualis, 

 Mel. exiguus, and Pedipes afra. Within the aperture on 

 the right of the neck, as the animal is crawling, there is an 

 air-bubble. 



Experiment 16. 

 June 5. Having opened to-day the small tin box in which I had 

 deposited on ./^pril 30 this same shell, together with a 

 number of specimens of Melampus cequalis, Mel. exiguus, 

 and Pedipes afra fouud with it, on placing them all in a 

 glass of sea-water, to my great astonishment the animal of 

 this specimen began instantly to protrude itself, and crawled 

 actively about the glass. It does not seem to have suffered 

 in the least from its long confinement without water. All 

 the others are quite dead. " Is it then a Pulmonia?" MSS. 

 The following statement sufficiently negatives this last question. 

 Experiment 17. 

 J?«ie 9, 1827. I inclosed this same specimen in a small lace bag, 

 previously soaked to exclude any air-bubbles, and immersed 



