Fam. 3, Plates 7 and 8. 



Genus 13. EOLIS,* Cuvier. 



Corpus limaciforme, ovatum ant lineare : pallio nullo. Caput terminate, tentaculis 4, non- 

 retractilibus, linearibus ; quorum 2, labiales et 2 dorsales sunt. Maxillae cornese. Branchice simplices, 

 elongatse, papillosse; in dorso seriatim aut fasciculatim dispositse. Pes sub-linearis postice acuminatus, 

 nonnunquam angulis anterioribus valde extensis. Orificia generationis et ani ad latus dextrum. 



Cuvier was the first to establish this genus, in his celebrated ' Memoires des Mollusques/ 

 originally published in the 'Annales du Museum.' It was subsequently adopted by 

 Lamarck. Its limits, however, have been but imperfectly understood: Cuvier himself 

 detached from it two genera in the l Regne Animal,' namely, Tergipes, founded upon the 

 Limax tergipes of Forskal — which was erroneously supposed by its discoverer to be able to 

 crawl by means of suckers at the ends of the dorsal papillae — and Flabellina, founded upon 

 a species described by Cavolini, in which the papillae are arranged in tufts. The Cavolina 

 of Bruguiere (named in a plate of the ' Encyclopedic Methodique') is also considered by 

 some to constitute a genus apart from Eolis, while others consider the two as synonymous, 

 and claim for the name of Bruguiere a priority over that of Cuvier. We have not the means 

 of ascertaining the respective dates, but the naming of two figures in a plate with which no 

 description was published, can scarcely be considered to amount to the establishment of a 

 genus, especially as other species, apparently belonging to the same genus (and now 

 considered to be Eolides), were figured in the adjoining plate under the name of Doris. In 

 the letter-press of this department of the ' Encyclopedie,' afterwards contributed by 

 M. Deshayes, he states his belief that Bruguiere had abandoned the genus Cavolina, and 

 that it ought to merge into Eolis. In this opinion we agree, as well as in considering 

 Flabellina and Tergipes merely as sections of this genus. Other genera have been 

 established out of different varieties of Eolis, which we are by no means inclined to admit. 

 Of these, Montagna of Fleming, Ethalion of Risso, and Eolidina of Quatrefages may be 

 taken as examples. Further reasons for discarding some of these will be mentioned in 

 treating of the species which have been referred to them. The genus Eolis, such as we 

 now understand it, contains a large number of species, the greater part of which are found 

 in European seas, and nowhere so numerous as on the British shores. We are inclined to 



* From iEolis the daughter of iEolus, god of the winds. The name of this genus has been 

 written differently by different authors. In the c Memoires des Mollusques' Cuvier contents himself 

 with giving the name in French (Eolide) in the text, but on the accompanying plate it is printed 

 Eolis, which name was adopted by Lamarck. Cuvier, however, afterwards latinised the name into 

 Eolidia in the ' Regne Animal/ In this he has been followed by several authors, while others retain 

 the simpler and more classical form of the original essay and of Lamarck, which may be considered 

 also to have the priority. Dr. Fleming writes the name Eolida. 



