EOLIS PAPILLOSA. 



had the papillae much covered with opaque white. On the coasts of Devonshire and 

 Cornwall, an orange or buff variety is more common. In Torbay we got it very large, 

 with the branchiae yellowish or fawn-coloured, speckled with brown and white, the back 

 being yellowish spotted with lilac. At the Salt Rock in Salcombe Estuary we found 

 an orange variety very adundant : the branchiae varied from pale buff to reddish orange, 

 spotted with white ; there were very few with brown spots, and these were confined to the 

 head and front rows of branchiae only; the triangular mark was generally present on the head, 

 and the back was always opaque white, occasioned by confluent spots. The colour of this 

 species on the Cheshire coast, according to Mr. Price, is always a buff ground sprinkled with 

 purple, and the dorsal papillae powdered with silvery white towards the tips, but varying 

 greatly in intensity of tint from nearly black to fawn-colour, and a uniform horny appearance. 

 Eohs Lesliana, of Macgillivray, which we have no hesitation in referring to this species, has 

 the branchiae of a faint pinkish tint, margined and tipped with white. 



There can be little doubt that this species is the 'Doris spinis mollihus hirsata of Baster, 

 described as two inches in length, and found on the coast of Holland : and as Linnaeus in his 

 'Sy sterna Nature,' quotes Baster's figure as representing his Limax papittosus, we have followed 

 Montagu, Fleming, and other British authors in considering our animal the true Linnean 

 species, though it may not be the Umax papillosus of the f Fauna Suecica,' which it would be 

 impossible now to identify. French authors have considered this species the Eolis Cuvieri, on 

 the authority of the synonyms given by Lamarck, but an examination of Cuvier's description 

 and figures will be sufficient to show that this is not the species described in the ' Memoires 

 des Mollusques.' That species is represented with long processes at the sides of the foot, 

 which Cuvier calls a third pair of tentacles, a character not to be found in E. papillosa <; 

 besides, the animal is more slender, and the tentacles and branchiae much longer than would 

 be the case with the latter when preserved in spirits. There are other Bolides coming 

 much nearer to Cuvier's species than E. papillosa, but we are afraid, from the necessary 

 imperfection of a description taken from spirit specimens in this genus, the identification of it 

 will be very difficult, if not impossible. 



This species spawns during the spring and summer months, when it may often be found 

 plentifully under stones between tide-marks, on a rocky or shingly coast, especially where the 

 bottom is a little muddy. It generally occurs a considerable way above low-water mark, and 

 in situations left dry; rarely in pools, as is commonly the case with the Bolides. The spawn 

 consists of a gelatinous cord, very much convoluted and waved, so that its spiral form is not 

 readily detected at first sight. It is attached to stones in such a manner as to give it a 

 festooned appearance when floating in the water. The eggs are scattered irregularly through 

 the cord in groups, interrupted at intervals : each contains two or three embryos. The mass 

 is occasionally white, but has generally a pinkish tinge, and is sometimes distinctly rose- 

 coloured. Professor E. Forbes states that the dark variety he called E. Zetlandica has the 

 spawn pure white. We have observed that the spawn of the orange variety found on the 

 south coast is also white, but in other places the white and pinkish kinds are intermixed 

 promiscuously, so that no character can be derived from it. 



Eolis papillosa is pretty generally diffused through the seas of Northern Europe ; and we 

 believe has been found on the shores of North America. We have no account of its 

 occurrence in the Mediterranean or any more southern locality. 



