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ACMAEIDAE 101
rounded, radial ribs of varying sizes. Base of shell slightly crenulate and with
color blotches. Exterior grayish white to dark-slate with numerous radial
rays of mauve-pink. Interior glossy-white, often with a fine pink line around
the callus at the apex. Foot of animal yellow; mantle with red stripes. Very
common on rocky rubble at low tide. The variety crucifera Dall is merely a
color form with white radial bands.
Subgenus Clypidella Swainson 1840
Fissurella fascicularis Lamarck Wobbly Keyhole Limpet
Southeast Florida and the West Indies.
Plate lyg
% to I /4 inches in length. Both ends turned up (can be rocked back and
forth on a flat table). Orifice toward the anterior end, keyhole in shape.
Color a faded magenta. Interior whitish, tinged with pale-green or pink.
Inner callus of orifice white with a narrow red line. Uncommon in Florida.
Superfamily PATELLACEA
Family ACMAEIDAE
Subfamily ACMAEINAE
Genus Lottia Sowerby 1833
Lottia gigantea Gray Giant Owl Limpet
Crescent City, California, to Lower California.
Plate 18)
3 to 4 inches in maximum diameter, oval in outline, low, with the apex
close to the front end. Exterior dirty-brown, rough, commonly stained with
algal green. Interior glossy, with a wide, dark-brown border. Center bluish
with an "owl-shaped" whitish to brownish scar in the very center. Very
common at or above high tide line where the sea spray may reach them. In
the south they grow to a large size. Frequently polished and used as sou-
venirs.
Genus Acmaea Eschscholtz 1830
Subgenus Acmaea s. str.
Acmaea mitra Eschscholtz White-Cap Limpet
Alaska to Lower California in cold water.
Plate i8r
I inch in maximum diameter, thick, pure white, conic in shape, and with
an almost round base. x\pex pointed and near the center. Often covered with
small, knobby nuUipore growths. Commonly washed ashore. It lives in cold
water below the low ride level.