download pdf

314 American Seashells
is concave. Girdle very narrow, same color as the valves, and with very
minute, gritty granules.
L. (C.) dentiens is a common intertidal form found north of Monterey
County, California. It is replaced to the south by the very similar and
common L. (L.) keepiana Berry (Keep's Baby Chiton). In the former, the
insertion teeth are prominently developed, their bounding slits in general
widely V-shaped, and the teeth of the posterior valve very acute on the
sides; the eaves are wide and conspicuously porous or "spongy." In the latter
species, there are numerous short, fiarroivly slitted teeth in the terminal
valves, and extremely thin, narrow, less openly porous eaves. (See S. S. Berry,
1948, Leaflets in Malacology, vol. i, no. 4.)
Lepidochitoiia hart^uegi Carpenter
Washington to Lower California.
'
Hartweg's Baby Chiton
I to 1 34 inches in length, oval, rather flattened. Similarly colored to L.
de?itiens. Girdle narrow and finely granulated. Sculpture of the end valves
and the lateral areas of the middle valves differs from the microscopic granu-
lations of dentiens in bearing easily seen, but very tiny, warts. It also differs
in having the area behind the apex of the posterior valve convex instead of
concave. Moderately common in intertidal areas.
Genus Nuttallina Carpenter 1879
Nuttallina californica Reeve Californian Nuttall Chiton
Vancouver Island to San Diego, California.
About I inch in length, almost 3 times as long as wide. Color darkbrown
to olive-brown. Upper surface of valves finely granulated and with
a shallow furrow on each side of the smooth dorsal ridge. Apex, or mucro,
of posterior valve so far back that it extends beyond the posterior margin
of the eaves. Interior of valves bluish. Posterior valve about as wide as long
and with 8 to 9 slits. Girdle with short, rigid spinelets mostly brown in
color and with a few white ones intermingled. The girdle looks mossy.
Moderately common.
Nuttallina scahra Reeve Rough Nuttall Chiton
San Diego to Lower California.
Very similar to N. californica, but the posterior valve twice as wide as
long. Color of valves lighter. Girdle spines much less numerous. This
is Carpenter's Acanthopleura flexa.