Pvn H,i I'UitlS

226 kelliidjE.
beak, Tellimya lactea, Brown, 111. Rec. Conch, p. 106, pi. xlii.
f. 10, 11.
Habitat : Fine mud in the cavities of dead bivalves
from deep water, and occasionally under stones at the
lowest verge of spring tides, sometimes occupying the
excavations made by other animals in hard rocks. Its
bathymetrical range extends to the line of soundings
round our coasts. The is
variety not so common : it is
the K. Cailliaudi of Recluz. The typical form occurs in
the Clyde beds (Smith), and in the Red and Coralline
Crag (S. Wood). It is found in the Scandinavian seas,
as far north as Finmark, in 10-50 fathoms, and also
throughout the Atlantic and Mediterranean, the Canary
Isles and Sicily being its southernmost known limits.
The Rev. P. Carpenter has enumerated it as a Califor-
nian species.
Montagu discovered this pretty shell in hard lime-
and he remarked that the opening of the excava-
stone ;
tions which it inhabited was smaller than the shell, so
that it must have entered in a younger state, and never
could have got out. It is, however, not a borer. I
have often found it in the tortuous and deserted galleries
made by Annelids; and its shape is sometimes
altered or even distorted in consequence of its confined
position. The shells of such specimens are thicker
than usual, and the epidermis is in a great measure
abraded. Both Alder and Clark have published some
excellent observations as to the habits of the animal.
The former says it moves freely by means of its strap -
shaped foot, which is frequently protruded
in all direc-
tions. Its progress is usually forward ; but sometimes
it crawls backwards or sideways, especially when it is
ascending a perpendicular surface, which it frequently
does for the purpose of suspending itself by its byssus.