THE NATURAL HISTORY OF BRITISH SHELLS V5, DONOVAN 1804

THE

NATURAL HISTORY
OF

BRITISH SHELLS,

•

INCLUDING

FIGURES and DESCRIPTIONS
OF ALL THE

SPECIES

HITHERTO DISCOVERED

GREAT BRITAIN,

IN

SYSTEMATICALLY ARRANGED

IN THE LINNEAN MANNER,
WITH
SCIENTIFIC

AND GENERAL OBSERVATIONS ON EACH.

=^

VOL.

V.

«=»*« 3.^^^:$£-<&-* ®« «

By

E.

DONOVAN,

F.L.S.

AUTHOR OF THE NATURAL HISTORIES OF
BRITI6H BIRDS, INSECTS, &C. &C.

LONDON:
PRINTED FOR THE AUTHOR,
AND FOR

AND

C.

RIVINGTQN, N°

62, ST.

PAUL'S CHURCH- YARD |

BY BYE AND LAW, ST. JOHN'S SQUARE, CLERKENWELL.

J803.


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THE

NATURAL HISTORY
OF

BRITISH SHELLS.

PLATE

CXLV.

TEREDO NAVALIS.
SHIP

WORM.

GENERIC CHARACTER.
Animal Terebella, with two calcareous hemisphaerical valves cut
off before, and

two

lanceolate ones.

capable of penetrating into

Shell roundish, flexuous, and

wood.

SPECIFIC

CHARACTER
AND

SYNONYMS.
Shell very thin, cylindrical

and smooth.

4

TEREDo navalis

:

testa tenuissima
cylindrica hevi.

334. sp.

Teredo, Linn.

1.

Syst. Nat. 12. 2. p. 1267. n.

A 2

l.

Gmd.p,

3747*


PLATE
Dentalium

testa

membranacea
Suec.

I.

CXLV
Linn. Fn.

cylindracea, ligno inserta.

No. 1329.

p. 380.

Serpula testa cylindracea fiexuosa, lignum perforans.

Da

Teredo.

Costa. Brit. Conch, p. 21. sp. 11.

Nat. Tered. Busier, Phil, trans.

Sellius Hist.

Teredo navalis.

Ship-worm.

This destructive creature

Penn. Brit.

Zool. 4.

:

at present

it

naturalized British species

;

supposed to have been originally a

is

be considered with propriety as a

and

it

a fortunate circumstance that

is

warmer

at the head,

is

fur-

wiih which

bores with the utmost facility into the stoutest oaken plank, as

lies in

the water

;

danger

in the

it

:

hence the ravages

bottoms of ships are fraught with the greatest

and notwithstanding

;

it

and where a number of them attack the same piece

of wood, will in a few davs entirely destroy
of these animals

it

climates.

animal, a soft and almost shapeless gelatinous body,

nished with a calcareous process, or augur,
it

Eu-

may

does not thrive so well with us as in

The

.

No. 160.

native of the East-Indies, and from thence introduced into the

ropean seas

61

all

the precaution of sheathing the

bottoms of ships with copper, they insinuate themselves through the
smallest

Where

cavities,

the

and lodge themselves securely

work of

the animal

rounded and closed, and as
shell

till,

length

;

as

Gmelin

says,

first

commences, the
it

in

the

shell

is

timbers.

obtusely

continues to lengthen

it

proceeds

it

becomes from four

its

to six inches in

—we have seen one of them whose progress through

the solid

plank had not been interrupted, that had grown nearly to the length
<>t

eighteen inches.

It is said

that sheets of paper dipped in tar,

applied to the ship's bottom, will prove a

more

and

effectual preservative


PLATE

CXLV.

of the timber than the usual sheathing of copper, and an extensive
late established for the preparation

manufactory has been of
article

sume

how

:

far

it

mav

we

prove ultimately successful

of this

cannot pre-

but perhaps both the paper and the copper might be

to imagine,

employed together with greater advantage than

either of those articles

separately.

we

For a more complete history of the Teredo than

we

otherwise possessed,

are indebted to a remarkable circumstance

that occurred about sixty years since

land were found to be

injured

ravages of this creature

upon

their history

the piles on the coast of Hol-

:

to a

very alarming degree, by the

and beside several other ingenious

;

it,

under the

Xylophagi Marini,

seu,

anatomy of the animal

is

illustrated

title

in

of Histor'a Naturalis

1733

;

in

book the

this

with Plates, and upon the whole

his observations deserve the attention of the curious reader.

account was also written by Baster, and published
actions of the Royal Society of

London,

seem

and exhibit the same appearance

to think peculiar to the species

aperture divided

by a

delicate, or thin,

as

brittle.

A3

;

The

Another

the Trans-

quoted above.

shells, are

Kammer

Utriadus

partition in the middle.

and very

in

in vol. 61, as

In our specimens, the apertures, or mouths of the
perfect,

tracts

and the calamity they had occasioned, Sellius

published an account of

Teredines,

might have

and

very

Gmdm

namely, an oval
shell

is

extremely




lb


PLATE

CXLVI.

PATELLA INTORTA.
INCLINING PATELLA, OR LIMPET.
GENERIC CHARACTER.
Animal Limax.

Shell univalve subconic

and without

spire.

CHARACTER

SPECIFIC

AND

SYNONYMS.
Shell entire, ovate,

furrowed

what

Patella intorta

:

ribs

reflexed and obtuse.

inclining

is

costis sub-imbri-

;

:

with an elevated

shell,

slightly

the vertex bending, but not hooked.

Perm. Brit.

shell

some-

vertice sub-refiexo obtuso.

striated

This

slightly imbricated, vertex

testa integris ovata, sulcata:

catis,

Patella intorta,

:

Zool.

described by Pennant,

Angl^sea, found on the shores."

who

It is a

acquaints us

very rare

shell,

it

"

inhabits

but has been

taken also on the western coast, and communicated
by

J.

Laskey,

Esq. of Crediton, Devonshire.

The

figure of Patella intorta, in the British Zoology,

very indifferent

:

is

certainly

but having examined the shell Mr. Pennant de-

a 4


PLATE
scribes,

we

have no hesitation

CXLVf.

in saying that

it

is

not the Patella

mammillaris of Gmelin, as some conchologists imagine.

we

of the

latter

tainly

known

t.

537. fig. 17

millaris

is

to
;

are likewise in possession of,

be natives of

country.

and in Martini. Conch.

very accurately figured

of them, with the
very

this

shell figured

clearly that they

;

1.

/.

Specimens

but they are not cer-

— In

Lifter

Conch,

l.f. 58, 59. P.

mam-

and a slight'comparison of either
in the

annexed

plate, will

cannot be of the same species.

prove




PLATE

CXLVIL

PATELLA LACUSTRIS.
LAKE LIMPET.
GENERIC CHARACTER.
Shell univalve, subconic, without spire.

Animal Limax.

SPECIFIC

CHARACTER
AND

SYNONYMS.
membranaceous

Shell very entire, oval,

Patella lacustris

:

:

Syst. Nat. T.
fluviatilis,

membranacea

testa integerrima ovali

mucronato rerlexo.

Patella

crown pointed and

fusca,

vertice

1.

Fn.

suec.

reflected.

:

vertice

2200. — Gmel.

p. 6.

mucronato, incurvo, inflexoque.

Gualt. Ind. Conch, tab.
Patella fluviatilis, exigua, fubflava,

vertice

4. Jig.

B.

mucronato, inflexoque.

List. Hist. Conch, tab. l^l.jig. 39.

Morton Northamp.

Patella lacustris, Penn.
Patella

integra,

exigua,

p. 417.

Brit. Zool. 4. No. 149.
fusca,

fragilis,

vertice

inflexo.

Da,

Costa. Brit. Conch. 1. tab. 2. Jig. 8. 8.

This

is

colour, that

a thin and brittle shell,
is

of a pale brown, or whitish

found on aquatic plants, in most ponds and

rivers in


PLATE
Europe
as

:

in

Gmelin

it is

England

describes

each of which

is

it,

plentifully

in

some

The animal,

places.

has two truncated and concealed tentacula,

us, that

and
they couple in September,

on stones and other bodies

in the

in each of
gelatinous globules,

consists of

little

small shells

may be

size in the

common

furnished with an eye at the inner angle.

Dr. Lister informs

spawn

very

CXLVIL

annexed

distinguished.—The shell
plate.

is

water

which

this

:

it is

shewn of

fix their

said

spawn

many

the natural



m

'/itmto'i

PLATE

CXLVIII.

LEPAS TINTINNABULUM.
BELL ACORN SHELL.
GENERIC CHARACTER.
Animal Triton.

of

Shell

many

valves,

by a stem or

affixed

broad base.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.
AND

SYNONYMS.
Shell conic, obtuse, rugged and fixed.

Lepas Tintinnabulum

:

testa, conica, obtusa,

Lud. Ulr. 466.

rugosa

fixa.

Mus.

n. 3.

Balanus major angustus purpurascens,

capitis apertura valde patente.

List. If. Conch, tab. 433. fig. 285.

Balanus major.

Tne

conic centre

Mus.

Balanus maximus ore patulo.
B. tintinnabuliformis et B.

shell.

Grew, Mus. p.

Petiv. p. 82.

148.

No. 803.

calyciformis orientalis.

Phil. Trans,

1758. p. 11. tab. $4>.fig. 8, 9.
B. ore hiante magnus.

Gland de Mer

clochette^

Borlase. Corn. p. 27.

D'Avila Cab.

Balanus Tintinnabulum

Bell.

p. 404.

No. 022.

B. major purpurascens, co-

nicus, angustus tintinnabuliformis, apertura valde

patente.

Da

Costa Brit. Conch, p. 250. sp. 70.

Balanus Tintinnabulum Bell. Penn.

Brit- Zool. T. 4. No. 8,


PLATE
This kind of Balanus

toms of ships
in

warmer

in

said to

A

supposed variety of

be found in the North

tions of our seas

present

is

is

is

that

it

originates

seas,

it

admitted

we

of a dirty whitish colour,

by Chemnitz.

among

by Borlase, Pennant and

the best apology

Work.

opinion

and should not be considered an indigenous

Balanus Tintinnabulum

confess

found affixed in large clusters to the bot-

seas, but the general

climates,

British species.

is

our

is

CXLVIII.

Da

the testaceous produc-

Costa, and this

have to offer for inserting

we must
it

in the



J

4J


PLATE

CXL1X.

VENUS LACTEA.
MILKY VENUS SHELL,
GENERIC CHARACTER.
Hinge furnished with

Bivalve.

three teeth

two near each

;

other,

the third divergent from the beaks.

CHARACTER.

SPECIFIC
Shell lentiform,

somewhat compressed, with

concentric

Venus lactea

:

and

striae,

slightly

testa lentiformi

truncated anteriorly.

sub-compressa

new and

:

striis

concentricis

antrorsum subtruncata.

crassis elevatis obtusis,

-This appears to be a

thick, elevated, obtuse

undescribed British

species-

of Venus,

approaching, in some particulars, to others of the same genus found

on our

coast, although

ridges

large, elevated,

differing

in

having the concentric

and obtusely rounded.

ample, in V. borealis, and V. cancellata
ridge to

an acute edge

to bear a

much

;

coast.

rise in a thin

striae,

strong analogy to our shell

:

Venus

present species,

we

are informed,

laccea

is

thick, but minute

is

for ex-

at first sight

thicker and heavier shell than
any other resembling

V. Exoieta has

or

membranaceous

and the former of these seems

which we are acquainted.

Our

The

stride

also
it,

a

with

striae.

found on the western




ISO

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