LEPAS. 55 



some specimens attached to a muscle shell, and brought 

 from the coast of Africa by Poiret. The largest are 

 three lines in diameter at the base, and a line and a half 

 high. The shell has six valves, each divided into three 

 channels, the deepest in tj^e middle. The valves are 

 separated by six rays, as straight as a thread. The 

 aperture is oval ; the operculum convex and quadri- 

 valve : when magnified the valves appear striated. The 

 colour of the shell is white. 



Bruguiere refers to Chemnitz, vol. 8. t. 98. f. 833, for 

 his shell, but it bears so slight a resemblance to the 

 figure in the Encyclop. Method, that we are not dis- 

 posed to consider it as the same. 



PURPLE-TIPPED ACORN. 

 PI. 9. /. 1, 2, 3. Mrs. Mawe. 



27. Lepas purpurascens. L. testa subconica, purpurea, rugosa, cellulosa ; 

 valvulis quatuor: apertura subangulota coarctata. 



Shell subconic, purple, rough and cellular : valves four ; aperture nar- 

 row and rather angular. 



The valves of this shell are so firmly united to each 

 Other, that the line of separation is seldom apparent, 

 and the cone in consequence seems uniform. This is 

 the case with fig. 3. in which state the shell is usually 

 found, and it must be remarked that it appears flat in 

 the plate, owing to the position of the eye, which is 

 looking down upon the figure in order to see the size 

 and shape of the aperture. Figure 1. is an instance 

 more rarely met with, where the valves are separated 

 and show the four depressed compartments. The con- 

 necting sutures appear so strong, that it must require 

 great force to disunite them. The shell is tipped with 



