212 
NATURE NOTES 
ture in the creature’s nest-making habits ; he had recently found 
(for the first time after many years’ dredging) three individuals 
on different parts of a frond of Laminaria saccharina, with the 
edge of the frond tucked over them, firmly tied down by the 
byssus into a very secure shelter. The adoption of the frond 
was the more remarkable from the fact that it was lying over 
a bank of nullipore, the Lima’s favourite building material : “it 
may be a question whether the animals have the power to draw 
the edges of the bulk}' frond over themselves, or whether it is 
an irritation caused to the frond by the Limas, giving it a ten- 
dency to fold over — most likely the latter — as it is usual to find 
the fronds of sea-weeds and leaves of land plants crumpled over 
the lodgment of the infesting animals. On the other hand, the 
large shells and stones they use in making their nests, and the 
difficult position they are sometimes placed in, give support to 
the possibility that they can bend the frond to serve their own 
wants. 
Robertson found that a gelatinous polychaete worm, perhaps 
a Siphonostoma, almost invariably occurred in the nest with the 
Lima ; another polychaete, Flemingia plumosa, and a small por- 
celain-crab (Porcellana longicornis) were also frequently found in 
the nests ; and besides the crab and the w'orms, Robertson took, 
from among the fibres of the nest, a curious minute Isopod, 
Munna whiteana. Bate and Westwood. f According to Balfour, 
the slime with which the nest is lined is rich in Diatomaceae, 
its examination repaying the naturalist interested in those 
organisms. + 
As regards the habits of Lima hians in the aquarium, 
Robertson, who frequently kept individuals for many months, 
found that they built freely during captivity. One, which 
was in good health at the time of writing (January, 1863) was 
taken from the sea in May, 1862 ; it commenced building a 
day or two after it was put into the tank, and had since 
lived under its own roof, adding from time to time to the 
size of the oblong nest. The creatures appeared to live longer 
when supplied with building material, but failing such they 
frequently made nests of their own byssus. j One, for instance, 
confined without materials in a glass jar, built its nest 
wholly of byssal-threads, in the angle between the sides and 
bottom of the vessel. Nests built under the latter conditions, 
according to Gilchrist, have the appearance of an ingenious 
lattice-work. One Lima kept by Al’Crie increased the size of 
its nest by building a sort of awning, wholly of threads. It 
is noted further that the creatures will build with objects with 
* Robertson, 1897, /. c. 
t Robertson, in Jeffreys, tom. cit., p. 92 ; Stebbing, Naturalist of Cumbrae, 1891, 
pp. 176-7 ; Bate and Westwood, British sessile-eyed Crustacea, ii. (1868), p. 330 ; 
Benham, Camb. Nat. His., ii. (1896), p. 29S : "Siphonostoma is found in the 
‘ nests ’ made by the mollusc Lima.’' 
\ Norman, /. c. § Robertson, in Jeffreys, 1 . c. || Robertson, 1897, 1 . c. 
