320 Cummings, A biographical sketch of Col. George Montagu. 



British. Recent lists of British Mollusca published by the 

 Conchological Society .show that his name stands by no less 

 than 72 species and 16 varieties 7 species, and 4 varieties being 

 non — marine. Turton named the genus Montacuta after him 

 (E. W. Swanton). Sixteen coloured plates accompany his work 

 in which the author adopted the Linnean system, deviating from 

 it in placing many Linnean Helices in the genus Tui'bo and 

 arranging all the depressed species of the former with regard 

 to the shape of the aperture. Montagu sensibly, perhaps neces- 

 sarily wrote it in the English language so that he must not be con- 

 sidered as following the Linnean manner of description. Of course 

 he included Sei'pula and Lepas in his book and thus lost a great 

 opportunity. His researches were not confined to the closet for as 

 he himself says he drew the hidden treasures from their native sites. 

 He also collected a number of Polychaet worms and a posthu- 

 mous paper in the Linnean describes five new species of Tere- 

 bella. He gives an account of the "extraordinary vermis" "Gordius 

 marinus" or Sea Longworm, in the description of which however 

 Borlase, the Cornish historian, precedes him and thus holds the 

 honour of being the first man to describe a Nemertine. Montagu, 

 too, was familiar with the Sipuncitlus which lives in the empty 

 shell of Cheiiopus pes-pelicani and which lessens the size of the 

 hole by stopping it up with sand. 



(e) CRUSTACEA. 



Among the Crustacea Montagu carried on a considerable 

 amount of work. He discovered and described Callianassa sitb- 

 terranea, and also its parasitic Isopod, lone thoracica. Callianassa 

 did not turn up again for a long time and the Rev. Canon a. M. 

 Norman who visited Montagu's hunting grounds many years later 

 failed to rediscover it. Since then however, Messrs. Sinel and 

 Hornell have obtained it at Jersey and it is reported to be not rare 

 at Naples. A very remarkable amphipod, which Montagu dis- 

 covered and described under the name Oniscus testudo and which 

 is now known as Pereionotus testudo (Montagu) up to the time of 

 Canon Norman's visit to South Devon had not been recorded 

 from any other part of the British coast. Yet in 1875, Canon 

 Norman obtained a specimen where the old British naturalist had 

 procured it 67 years before. Montagu was able to justify the 

 validity of the species of many of "Mr. Pennant's crabs", describ- 



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