. The Australian zoologist. Zoology; Zoology; Zoology. NOTES ON THE KELP SHELL, CANTHARIDUS IRISODONTES. By ERNEST MAWLE i Communicated by Charles Hedley, ) HrtW5*£&»4flk A Shell Necklace. As mementoes of their visit to Tasmania tourists often purchase at Hobart necklaces of sea shells — dainty, glittering trinkets of rainbow colours. The beauty of these shells attracted the admiration of even the aboriginals, ami a portrait oi a native girl, wearing a necklace of them, has been left bj Peron. The savages are said to have brightened their shells by burying them with seaweed. Probably
. The Australian zoologist. Zoology; Zoology; Zoology. NOTES ON THE KELP SHELL, CANTHARIDUS IRISODONTES. By ERNEST MAWLE i Communicated by Charles Hedley, ) HrtW5*£&»4flk A Shell Necklace. As mementoes of their visit to Tasmania tourists often purchase at Hobart necklaces of sea shells — dainty, glittering trinkets of rainbow colours. The beauty of these shells attracted the admiration of even the aboriginals, ami a portrait oi a native girl, wearing a necklace of them, has been left bj Peron. The savages are said to have brightened their shells by burying them with seaweed. Probably an acid produced by the decaying plants dissolved away the exterior of the shell and exposed the brilliant under surface. These shells have been popularly called " Kelp Shells," because thev inhabit the fronds of sea weed. There are two kinds, a larger shell, Cantharidus eximius, which was used by jewellers as a knob for ladies' hat pins, and a smaller one, C. irisodontes, the necklace shell, properly so called. C. eximius prefers the giant kelp, Macrocystis, but C. irisodontes usually avoids that plant and chooses rather to dwell on the various smaller algae, such as Sargasso and Eklonia. It ranges from low water down to five fathoms, but is most plentiful at a depth of eight or ten feet. But a large variety of C. irisodontes has taken to living on the giant kelp. It is distinguished from C. eximius, whose home it shares, by being only half as large and by being smooth instead of spirally Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the original Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales; Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales. Proceedings. [Sydney, Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales]
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjectzoology, bookyear1914
