338 TAYLOR : ON TESTACELLA SCUTULUM. 



aniples he had the kindness to send, has convinced us of his 

 error, and he himself agrees with this view, after a fresh examina- 

 tion.' This conclusion of Ferussac, yielded to by Mr. Sow- 

 erby, was afterwards generally accepted, Dr. Gray, Forbes & 

 Hanley, Dr. Jeffreys and every recent British author, regarding 

 T. scutuliim as only a slight variety of the better known species 

 T. haliotidea. 



Afterwards, in 1856, Mr. Tapping in the ' Zoologist,' p. 5105, 

 re-described this species as new, under the name of Tcstacella 

 Medii-TernpU, from specimens found in the Middle-Temple 

 gardens, but, as he only compares his new species with haliotidea 

 and ijiaugei, we are led to infer that he had no practical knowledge 

 of T. scutuliim and had overlooked Sowerby's figures and de- 

 scription, as we have the high authority of Canon Norman for 

 regarding Tapping's species as identical with T. scutuliim. 



The only other names that appear to have been definitely be- 

 stowed on this species, are, that of Testacella anglica given by 

 Grateloup in his ' Dist. Geog. Limac' published in 1856, and 

 that of Testacellus sciitatus applied by Lesson in 1838. 

 Organisation, etc. 



The first discovery of the different organization and conclu- 

 sive demonstration of the just claim of T. scutuhwi to specific 

 rank, was made by Mr. C. Ashford, early in 1885, and its great 

 divergence in certain respects from haliotidea leaves no doubt 

 of its distinctness, in fact, in some points it approaches more 

 closely to maugei than to the species with which it has hitherto 

 been confounded. Gassies & Fischer in their ' Monographic du 

 Genre Testacelle ' say, '■ Animal similar to that of T. haliotidea^ 

 and rank this form as a variety of that species. As they do not 

 remark upon the striking differences in the structure, it is reason- 

 able to suppose that no anatomical examination was made, or 

 if made they had not the true T. scutulum before them. 



The SHELL is usually smaller in proportion to the size of the 

 anmial than in T. haliotidea; it is also comparatively longer and 

 rnore wedge-shaped and has the upper surface much flatter, 



J.C, v., July, 1888. 



