324 



ADDITIONS TO "BRITISH CONCHOLOGY." 



By J. T. MARSHALL. 

 Part VII. {continued from p. 2ij). 



Haliotis tuberculata L. — The first wliorls of the young Haliotis 

 shells are imperforate ; when three lines in length they have four 

 imperforate and four perforate eyelets. 



In addition to the imperforate specimen, i^in. in length, contained 

 in the collection of Miss Lukis (not in that of her sister, Mrs. Collings 

 of Sark, recorded in error by Gwyn Jeffreys),^ another smaller one has 

 been recorded from the shell beach of Herm,' and another is in the 

 Natural History Museum, measuring 2;^in.,'' while a foreign specimen 

 is on record that has no perforations at all, or any indications of them.* 

 A still more remarkable example of Haliotis is recorded by Mr. Edgar 

 Smith, namely a foreign specimen in the Natural History Museum 

 which has a double row of perforations.'' It is probable that all these 

 aberrations from the normal form are not very rare, but may not have 

 been noticed. 



Even in mature specimens of //. tuberculata the number of these 

 perforations is most irregular, some examples having double the 

 number of others. Gwyn Jeffreys states that the number of "orifices 

 is six to eight" .... "the number of orifices corresponds with the 

 tubular folds of the mantle,'"^ and that they "are closed after ceasing 

 to be of use in containing the pallial folds." (p. 276). 



In Brittany and Normandy the peasantry call the Haliotis " Six- 

 Eyes," and although that is about the average number of perforations, 

 plenty of specimens may be found with the number of "eyes" ranging 

 from four to eight. Young naturalists should be told that of course 

 these so-called " eyes " have no connection with the organs of vision. 



H. tuberculata is occasionally poisonous. During one of my visits 

 to Jersey some years ago, one of the principal doctors in the island, 

 also my sister, and various otlier persons, were rendered very ill from 

 eating them. On inquiry, I could only attribute the cause to these 

 Haliotis having consumed some starfish, which live in the same 

 habitat under stones, starfish being well known to possess poisonous 

 attributes. There have been numerous instances of ordinary illness 

 following the consumption of these molluscs, but they were all trace- 



1 Brit. Conch., vol. iii., p, 281. 



2 Marquand, Journ. 0/ Conch. ^ ^904, vol. xi., p. 48. 



3 Smith, Conchologisl, vol. ii., p. 73. 



4 Kel.sey, "A Peculiar /2'ar//i?i'/i'," Nautilus, 1304, vol. xviii.. p. 67. 



5 Ann. Mag. N. Hist., ser. vi., vol. i., p. 419. 



6 Brit. Conch.,. vol. iii., p. 2S0. 



