A guide to the shell and starfish galleries : $b (Mollusca, Polyzoa, Brachiopoda, Tunicata, Echinoderma, and Worms)British Museum (Natural History). Department of Zoology
Science
A guide to the shell and starfish galleries : $b (Mollusca, Polyzoa, Brachiopoda, Tunicata, Echinoderma, and Worms)
British Museum (Natural History). Department of Zoology
Echinodermata; Mollusks; Worms
In contradistinction to the preceding class these Molluscs are
asymmetrical, especially in respect of the gills and the spiral coiling
of the viscera and most of the shells. They may be divided into two
sections, _Streptoneura_ and _Euthyneura_, distinguished by differences
in the arrangement of the visceral nerve-loop.
Section STREPTONEURA.
[Sidenote: Cases 4–94.]
The Molluscs of this section are bisexual and furnished with a shell,
and generally with an operculum. The gills are in front of the heart and
the visceral nerve-loop is twisted into a figure of 8. The section
contains two groups or orders, Scutibranchia and Pectinibranchia.
Order 1.—SCUTIBRANCHIA.
The Scutibranchia have a free bipectinate gill, or the gill may be
absent (_Lepeta_, _Helicina_), and generally exhibit traces of bilateral
symmetry.
[Sidenote: Case 4.]
The _Acmæidæ_ are called False Limpets, because, although the shells are
identical with the true Limpets, the animals differ in having only a
small gill on the left side of the neck, whilst the _Patellæ_ have the
gills greatly developed all round the sides of the foot. Both the true
and the false Limpets are littoral and found on rocks between
tide-marks. They have the power of excavating the surface to which they
attach themselves, and adhere so firmly that it is easier to break the
shell than detach the animal. The largest known Limpet (_Patella
(Ancistromesus) mexicana_, case 7) inhabits the west coast of Central
America, its shell having sometimes a length of 12 inches. The Limpets
are vegetable-feeders and fond of seaweeds of various kinds, which they
rasp with their remarkable spiny tongues. That of the common English
Limpet (_P. vulgata_, Fig. 3) is longer than the shell itself, and armed
with as many as 1920 glassy hooks in 160 rows of twelve teeth each. The
Limpet is commonly used for bait in the sea-fishing off the Scottish
coast, and vast quantities are consumed as food in some parts of
Ireland. Some Limpets, such as _P. compressa_, _P. mytilina_, etc., are
found on the stems of floating seaweeds, and have the shells usually
thinner and smoother than the Rock-Limpets, which have to resist the
fury of the breaking waves.
[Illustration:
Fig. 3.
1. Radula of the Common British Rock-Limpet (_Patella vulgata_),
natural size.
2. Two transverse series of teeth: _a_, median teeth; _b_, laterals;
_c_, uncini or marginals.
]
[Illustration:
Fig. 4.
The Common Rock-Limpet (_Patella vulgata_). British.
1. Animal: _a_, foot; _b_, fringed mantle; _c_, tentacles; _d_, mouth;
_e_, eyes; _f_, gills.
2. Side view of shell, showing the impression or scar of the
attachment-muscle, _g_.
3. Upper surface of the shell.
]
[Sidenote: Case 8.]
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