Pvn H,i I'UitlS

LIMA. 89
mal of L. hians, with its thousand delicate and beauti-
fully ringed vermilion tentacula, each maintaining, as it
were, a life independent of its neighbours, turning and
twisting in every direction ;
the rich crimson foot and
snow-white shell form an object which, to my eyes, is
unsurpassed among the British Mollusca." He, however,
adds :—" There is but one thing I have to say against
this interesting molluscan ; and that is, the animal has
a peculiar, tenacious, and to me sickening odour : after
having handled a number of them it is no easy
matter to
remove the smell from the hands with soap and water ;
and so strong a hold has the nauseous -smell sometimes
taken on my olfactory nerves that a whole night has
scarcely sufficed to remove the impression." Perhaps
the nasty smell may be accounted for by presuming that
its apartment is never cleaned. When the Lima is first
taken out of its case and put into a basin of sea- water,
it is exceedingly active and restless, either violently
darting round the sides of the vessel, or else gracefully
careering about, with its long and thick fringe of fila-
ments trailing behind it. In the course of a few minutes
it seems to get tired, or reconciled to its prison ;
and it
then lies on its back, the valves of the shell expanded,
and reposes on its own soft luxurious cushion. The
filaments at first curl and entwine round one another,
a perfect nest of snakes, but afterwards they are with-
drawn and become contracted ; a circular inner row,
like a coronet, surrounds the slowly-flapping gills ; and
the outer rows fold over on each side and form a sort of
chevaux de frise. Dr. Landsborough supposed that these
filaments were useful to the Lima in catching its prey.
He observed that they are veiy easily broken off, and
that they seem to live for many hours after being de-
tached from the body, wriggling about like so many