. The illustrated natural history [microform]. Reptiles; Fishes; Mollusks; Natural history; Reptiles; Poissons; Mollusques; Sciences naturelles. NILOTIC TOP.â2Vuc7ii(5 Mluticiis. ' âM'j//iiiii(/(i Inciiiidta. as it is teeluiically called, is seen to be hollow, and looks somewhat like that of tliL' solarium. Tlio animal has no head lobes, but tlie sides are furnished with lobes and cirrhi, the ti'iitacular projections already mentioned. The nolphiii-shells prefer tlie sliallow water, aiul at low tide may Ite ]ncked by hand off tiie reefs. The colour of the Dolpliui-shell i
. The illustrated natural history [microform]. Reptiles; Fishes; Mollusks; Natural history; Reptiles; Poissons; Mollusques; Sciences naturelles. NILOTIC TOP.â2Vuc7ii(5 Mluticiis. ' âM'j//iiiii(/(i Inciiiidta. as it is teeluiically called, is seen to be hollow, and looks somewhat like that of tliL' solarium. Tlio animal has no head lobes, but tlie sides are furnished with lobes and cirrhi, the ti'iitacular projections already mentioned. The nolphiii-shells prefer tlie sliallow water, aiul at low tide may Ite ]ncked by hand off tiie reefs. The colour of the Dolpliui-shell is purplish tending to black, and the aperture is pearly. In tlie next fannly of molluscs, the shell assumes a very remarkable sliaiio, for altlimi^h it is constructed on the spiral princijjle, the spire is so very small and the aiierlure so very large that many persons woiUd take it for one of the bivalves. Most of tiicse sbells are shaped after the ibrm of the human ear, which lias earned for them the title dl' llaliotida', Sea-ears. The outer lip is either notched at the edge, or iierlbratcd with a series of oval holes, and the general sulistance of the shell is pearly, and coloured with tints vivid as those of the rainbow, and refulgent as those of the hunnning-bird's throat. Th(> out(>r angle of the .'^hell is ]ierf(U'ated by a series of obloug holes, which are generally tilled up as they approach the ,'^pine and at last are wholly oliliterated. Some- times, as in a very tine siiecimen now Iji'fore me, several of these jierforations coalesce, so as to form a long rounded slit, nearly two inches in length. The animal has .slender and conical tentacles, with the eyes .set on footstalks at their outer ; and as the operculum which would be needed to close so large a mouth would be of unwieldy dimensions, that organ is almost rudimentary, and appears to serve no ])ractical purpose. The Ass's Ear is one of the larger species of the genus Ilaliotis, and is one
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, booksubj, booksubjectfishes, booksubjectmollusks
