Pvn H,i I'UitlS

90 PECTINID^.
worms. The fry are of the same shape as the adult, and
have slight but distinct ribs.
The habit of making a case or " nest " appears to be
common everywhere % nor is it restricted to full-grown
individuals. The Rev. It. N. Dennis informs me that he
found at Herm certainly more than one hundred specimens
of the variety thus enclosed, and that they were
of all ages, but mostly young. He adds, " The nests
were generally fixed under good-sized stones at low-
water mark, and were broken in turning over the
stones, when the Limas swam off in all directions. The
largest number I found in one nest was, I think, seven ;
the largest and oldest-looking specimens were alone in
the nest. I did not find a single specimen out of a nest.
The Herm people call them '
Angels' -wings. ; '' The nest
of L. Mans measures from two to ten inches in length,
according to the age and size of the occupier and the
supply of materials. It somewhat resembles the case
made by certain species of Mytilus (or Modiola), and
has no analogy to the nest of birds and some fishes,
being permanently inhabited by the Lima itself, or a
colony of them. The fry are always left to provide for
themselves, and do not require any parental care. This
kind of u nest-hunting/' therefore, is not a cruel, though
an unusual sport. In a review of my first volume in
f Blackwood's Magazine/ the writer referred the pursuit
of natural history to a Nimrod instinct. Perhaps, after
all, he touched the right chord j
for although we dignify
hunting for shells, insects, and flowers by the imposing
names of Conchology, Entomology, and Botany, such
researches may partake as much of an innate love of
sport as of the spirit of scientific inquiry. Dredging
for Lima's nests is at any rate an amusement more
suitable to grave naturalists, than looking after the eggs