234 HISTOEY OF THE ORMER. 



About eleven years ago, Mr. Edgar A. Smith, F.Z.S., announced 

 in the Conchologist, vol. II., p. 75, the presentation to the British Museum 

 of an ormer shell in which the characteristic perforations are entirely 

 absent. — a peculiarity which, Mr. Smith remarked, " appears to be of the 

 greatest rarity, for I only find that one notice of its occurrence has ever 

 been published, nor has it been observed by any of the conchologists 

 and others whom I have consulted.*' The record alluded to occurs in 

 Jeffrey's British Conchology, vol. III., p. 281, where the author states, 

 speaking of Saliotis tubereulata, that ''one in Mrs. Collings" collection 

 has no orifice, although it is about an inch and a quarter in length." 

 Mr. Marquand said he was pleased to be able to record the occurrence 

 of another example, which was found on the famous shell beach at 

 Herm about thirty years ago. by the late Mrs. R. S. Boley of this island, 

 who treasured it as a curiosity until he informed her of its extreme 

 rarity ; and a few months before her death she most kindly presented it to 

 Mr. Marquand, who now exhibited the specimen. It is smaller than the 

 other two, being only 12 millimetres in length, whereas the one mentioned 

 by Jeffreys is 28 millimetres long, while the British Museum one, Mr. 

 Smith says, measures 2\ inches. Jeffreys was mistaken in supposing' 

 that the imperforate specimen he mentions was " in Mrs. Collings' 

 collection." — but the error is easily explained. In the early sixties 

 Jeffreys used to come over to Guernsey shell-collecting, and became 

 very intimate with the Lukis family ; more especially with the late 

 Dr. F. C. Lukis. who was an ardent conchologist. This gentleman's two 

 sisters, the late Mrs. Collings, wife of the then Seigneur of Sark, and 

 Miss Lukis, who is still living, had also studied the shells of these islands, 

 and of course submitted their collections for his inspection. And so, 

 quite unintentionally. Mrs. Collings got the credit of possessing a shell 

 which had really been found by, and had always belonged to, her sister. 

 Miss Lukis, who distinctly remembers showing the shell to Jeffreys, 

 informed Mr. Marquand that she found it alive on the north coast of 

 Guernsey, but she did not recollect noticing any peculiarity about it at 

 the time : and it was only after the shell had been cleaned (it still shows 

 traces of animal matter) that the absence of holes was discovered. Mr. 

 Marquand was indebted to Miss Lukis for kindly allowing him to exhibit 

 this original specimen at this meeting. He could not say what the out- 

 side was like, as the shell was gummed down on a tablet; but in the 

 Herm example a series of tubercles replaces the apertures, so that with- 

 out close inspection there is nothing externally to mark its peculiarity. 

 If this is always the case, he thought it would not be easy to detect the 

 absence of holes in a living ormer. If another specimen could be found 

 alive the dissection of the animal would settle the interesting question 

 whether or not the slit in the mantle is, as Mr. Smith suggests, alto- 

 gether wanting.] 



