Molluslcs. 3993 



knowledge of the habitations and classification of the Mollusca. The 

 continent of Europe, especially France, the Rhine, Belgium, Holland, 

 Switzerland, and Italy are as well if not better known than many parts 

 of our own country, and to naturalists offer much greater advantages. 

 The wet and gloomy gorge of the Tamina in Switzerland, all the way 

 from Ragatz to the baths, abounds in various mollnsks, and the Clau- 

 silias, hanging from some of the walls in thousands, apex downwards, 

 quite fringe them with a drapery of living forms. Again, at Nice, in 

 Italy, 1 have been informed, that during the winter months, a constant 

 system of dredging is carried on in the bays ; and Dr. Johnston, in 

 his ' Introduction to Conchology,' alludes to more than one species of 

 mollusk being sold in the markets for food, in some of the Italian 

 towns. 



If British naturalists, during their visits to the continent, would col- 

 lect all the shells that they could procure, and a Society were formed 

 for exchanging the peculiarly British forms of Mollusca and marine 

 shells with continental naturalists, I have little doubt that ere long the 

 beneficial results arising from such a Society would be witnessed in 

 the more extensive collections, and by the presence of finer specimens 

 and more abundant forms of many of the genera now either poorly 

 represented or altogether wanting ; until at length our cabinets would 

 approach to a perfect blending of colours in the prismatic scale, and 

 it could not be said, here the genus Buccinum ends, and here begins 

 the genus Fusus ; but rather that Fusus should be the link, as it is, 

 leading from Buccinum to Trophon. Nature abhors gaps, as much 

 as she has been said to abhor a vacuum. 



William F. Templer. 



Ilfracombe, July 8, 1853. 



Notes on the Habits of Sepiola vulgaris. By P. H. Gosse, Esq. 



My notions of the Cephalopoda, derived from figures of the various 

 species in books, were anything but agreeable. I thought of them as 

 hideous, repulsive, fierce, atrocious creatures, hated and feared when- 

 ever seen. But an acquaintance with the pretty Sepiola vulgaris has 

 not a little modified these ideas ; and its beauty, sprightliness, and 

 curious habits have made it quite a favourite pet among the denizens 

 of my aquarium. I take it in considerable numbers in Weymouth 

 Bay, by means of the net known as a " keer-drag," which rakes the 

 XI. 2 N 



