MR.  BRODERIP  ON  CLAVAGELLA. 
263 
nous  venons  de  decouvrir  a  Tile  de  Bourbon'  :"  he  adds^,  "  Quant  a  I'animal,  nous  ne 
le  connaissons  pas." 
M.  Sander  Rang  finishes  the  article  on  Clavagella  with  the  following  paragraph : 
"  On  a  decouvert  recemment  dans  les  niers  de  Sicile  une  coquille  assez  voisine  des 
Clavagelles,  mais  que,  selon  nous,  on  ne  doit  pas  rapporter  a  ce  genre.  Cette  coquille, 
logee  dans  une  cavite  particuliere  creusee  dans  les  pierres,  a  ses  valves  libres,  tandis 
que  I'ouverture  de  cette  cavite  est  munie  superieurement  d'un  tube  faisant  I'efFet  d'une 
cheminee,  horde  a  son  orifice  d'une  manchette  analogue  a  celle  de  certains  Arrosoirs. 
Cette  coquille  ne  pent  point  appartenir  aux  Clavagelles,  qui  ont  une  valve  soudee ; 
nous  pensons  plutot  qu'elle  devra  former  un  genre  dans  le  voisinage  des  Gastrochenes, 
car  probablement  le  tube  ne  s'eleve  pas  seulement  a  I'orifice  de  sa  demeure.  II  y  a  lieu 
de  croire  que,  comme  dans  les  Gastrochenes,  il  se  prolonge  inferieurement  dans  cette 
cavite  qu'il  tapisse,  et  par  ce  moyen  enveloppe  la  coquille ;  ce  serait  done  avant  les 
Gastrochenes,  et  dans  la  division  c),  qu'il  faudrait  la  placer. 
"  c)  Quelquefois  un  tube  enveloppant  toute  la  coquille  et  non  sonde  3." 
If  M.  Sander  Rang  here  allude  to  the  species  communicated  by  M.  Audouin  to  the 
Academic  des  Sciences,  and  if  the  description  of  the  former  be  an  accurate  account  of 
the  "  Clavagelle  vivante"  of  M.  Audouin,  the  species  cannot  be  that  which  I  am  about 
to  describe  in  this  memoir  under  the  name  of  Clav.  Melitensis ;  for  my  species  has  "une 
valve  soudee  :"  but  I  regret  that  I  have  not  access  to  M.  Audouin's  memoir,  which 
would  probably  relieve  me  from  the  doubt  that  I  may  possibly  be  describing  his  Sicilian 
Clavagella  under  the  name  of  Clav.  Melitensis. 
Mr.  Cuming,  in  the  course  of  his  voyage,  dredged  up  from  a  depth  of  eleven  fathoms, 
at  the  island  of  Muerte,  in  the  bay  of  Guayaquil,  a  fragment  of  calcareous  grit,  of 
modern  appearance,  such  as  Mr.  Samuel  Stutchbury  found  forming  the  solid  reefs 
which  bound  the  islands  designated  by  him  as  "  mineral,"  in  contradistinction  to  those 
which  are,  superficially  at  least,  coral.  In  this  calcareous  grit  was  the  greater  portion 
of  the  chamber  and  tube,  both  valves,  and  the  soft  parts  of  a  very  fine  Clavagella'^. 
These  parts  are  now  in  the  able  hands  of  my  friend  Mr.  Owen,  and  form  the  subject 
of  the  interesting  memoir  which  follows  this  paper. 
A  close  examination  of  the  recent  species  has  convinced  me,  that  though  one  valve 
is  always  fixed  or  imbedded  in  the  chamber,  and  soldered,  as  it  were,  to  the  tube,  so  as 
to  make  one  surface  with  it,  the  tube  is  not  necessarily  continued  into  a  complete  testa- 
ceous clavate  shape.  In  Mr.  Goldsmid's  best  and  largest  specimen^,  the  fixed  valve  is 
imbedded  in  the  coral and,  though  continued  on  to  the  tube  or  siphonic  sheath",  is  sur- 
rounded by  the  wall  of  the  coral  chamber  at  its  anterior  extremity^.  In  the  other  spe- 
cimen^ the  fixed  valve  is  also  continued  on  to  the  tube. 
'  p.  339.  p.  341.  5  p.  342.  Plate  xxx.  Figg.  8—16.  '  Plate  xxxv.  Fig.  1. 
«*  Ibid.  a'.  -  Ibid.  d.  ^  Ibid.  a.  »  Ibid.  Fig.  2. 
