34 LEPAS. 



filled with the black skin of the animal, as may be seen 

 in the lower figure of pi. 4. 



The operculum, as Muller and Fabricius have ob- 

 served, is membranous, and terminates in two teeth, or 

 small valves. The shell is of a dirty white colour, with 

 sometimes a greenish tinge, and the bands within side 

 are darker than the rest of the body. Large shells of 

 this species are an inch and a half high, and two inches 

 wide at the base. They are found in the North seas, 

 adhering firmly to the whale, and their general situation 

 is in the furrows of the skin above the base of the pec- 

 toral fins. It is often found on the shores of Scotland, 

 but very rarely in the southern parts of this kingdom. 



The eared barnacles, Lepas aurita, which Ellis has 

 figured on the top of this species, have led some authors 

 to suppose that the animal resembles a cluster of small 

 hooded serpents, issuing from the aperture and openings 

 on the ribs of the shell. A little attention to circum- 

 stances would have prevented this mistake, since the 

 small openings which appear on the upper surface of 

 the valves in defective turban shells, have no communi- 

 cation with the inner chamber, and are very insufficient 

 for the passage of so large a body as Ellis has repre- 

 sented. 



Plate 4 represents the perfect shell ; the top figure is a 

 side view, the middle shows the interior, and the lower 

 figure the base of the shell, or that part which adheres 

 to the skin of the whale. Chemnitz has figured the 

 perfect shell correctly. Born's figure is also good, but 

 Gualtieri has not been so successful. Lister, Klein, 

 Da Costa, and Donovan, have figured worn shells, that 

 is, with the ends of the valves open at top, and showing 

 the three cells within. 



