THE ESSEX NATURALIST. 
I98 
6f rocks in the littoral and laminarian zones, and having des¬ 
cribed it as “ small and distorted,” figures a specimen, the 
only one in his collection (now at Washington), in Brit. Conch. 
v., pi. xxi., 50mm. long, which Dr. Dali tells me represents the 
shell very exactly, as against Lamarck’s 8-11 mm. Reeve 
[Ostrea, pi. v.) figures another of Jeffrey’s specimens, varying 
in some respects from Jeffreys’ figure, and much larger. 
According to Jeffreys some specimens resemble the Gryplicea 
in shape. Was he confusing it with the Portugese shell 0 . angu- 
lata, having mixed his memoranda ? 
Brocchi [Conch, foss. Snbap.) describes a small shell which he 
names pusilla, 14 mm. in length, of which I have three examples 
from the Coralline Crag. They seem fully grown, and maj^ 
J>e the same or allied to Lamarck’s shell and like it are hollow 
under the hinge line. Continental writers are not much more 
definite, and neither Monterosato, Sacco, Seguenza, Cerulli- 
Irelli or Hidalgo refer to it. Carus merely says 0 . edulis var. a- 
crassa, lamellis appressis Prof. Issel “ 0 . hippopus Lam., 
var. tarentina.” Philippi makes it a variety of 0 . bellovacina, 
an Eocene fossil, and MM. Bucquoy and collaborateurs 0 . lamellosa 
Brocchi. It does not agree however with Sacco’s later figure of 
Brocchi’s type. 
VAR. TINCTA Jeffreys. 
“ Shell flattened and attached at every stage ; inside of a 
rich purplish brown, or olive green ; hinge margins strongly 
crenulated.” West of Scotland and Burra Isles, Shetland 
(B.C. ii., p. 39, but not figured). Reeve adds “ regularly formed 
and flat.” 
It does not appear that Jeffreys had noticed this form prior 
to the issue of the British Conchology , and all we have hitherto 
known of it has been derived from the above meagre description^ 
and the figure of the inside of the lower valve showing the colouring 
in Reeve [Conch. Icon., Ostrea, pi. v., fig. 8, c.) 
It is somewhat rare, being very local. I possess a fine speci¬ 
men kindly sent me from Jeffreys’ collection by Dr. Dali, and I 
have also received from Mr. James Young, of Lochalsh, N.B., a 
small series from Scalpa Sound, near Skye, and these enable me 
to complete the imperfect diagnosis quoted above, as follows :— 
Ovate (in young examples) to subtrigonal, apex nearly central. 
