Pvn H,i I'UitlS

32 ANOMIIDvE.
similarly sculptured. No less than thirty-four species
have been made out of the one now described ; and
naturalists of every country have had a hand in this
wholesale manufacture. Eighteen of these species have
been enumerated as synonyms by Forbes and Hanley.
The variability of the shell, however, is now such an
established fact, that a conchologist who would attempt
to restore any of these so-called species must have
greater ingenuity than even the learned knight, of
whom it was said
" He could distinguish and divide
A hair, 'twixt south and south-west side."
The variety " squamula " is flatter and smoother than
usual ;
" "
aculeata has the imbricated scales pinched
and the narrow form
up into vaulted or hollow spines ;
of " cylindrica " arises from the young Anomia selecting
for its resting-place a small stem of sea-weed, which
obliges it to assume a saddle- shape, not having any
room for lateral development. Occasionally specimens
are found exhibiting the characters of more than one
variety, being half "squamula" and half " aculeata."
The animal is said to be poisonous and ; Mr. M cAndrew informs me that the captain and some of the crew of his
yacht were suddenly taken ill at Vigo, after having eaten
some fine Ano?nide, which looked to them so temptingly
like oysters. The muscle of attachment appears to
have an excavating or eroding power, like the foot of a
limpet or other boring
mollusk. When an Anomia is
fixed to the shell of an oyster, the lower part of the plug
is sunk below the level of the surface, and is separated
from it by a kind of sloping ditch. This gives a stronger
hold ; and the base of the plug is often spread out, so as
to increase the fulcrum. The structure of the plug is
very remarkable. It is composed of perpendicular