the several points of difference by which each is characterised, are variable. I may be permitted to add, in order to show that it has not been from indolence that I have combined so many forms, that I had named and already written out full descriptions of most of the varieties, before determining to sacrifice them. Seeing that _B. tintinnabulum_ and _amphitrite_ are the two most variable species in the genus, more especially in the important characters derived from the opercular valves, and knowing that these species are attached so very frequently to ships' bottoms, one is led to suspect that their extreme tendency to vary may be due to their being exposed to varying and peculiar conditions, whilst transported to new and distant localities. It is even just possible, as may be inferred from the facts given in the Introduction (p. 102) in regard to certain monstrous specimens of _Bal. balanoides_ having been apparently impregnated by adjoining individuals, that the varieties may interbreed, and so produce numerous intermediate forms. Whether or not this could take place, I am inclined to look at these two species, as in an almost analogous condition with our domestic animals, which give rise to such infinitely numerous varieties. It appears to me probable, that several of the varieties keep true to their peculiarities, as long as they continue to breed in the same locality; but that when their larvæ become attached to ships' bottoms, and are thus transported and exposed to new conditions, they give rise to new and ever-varying varieties. I will first give a full description of the more common forms of _B. tintinnabulum_, which undoubtedly belong to the same species, only alluding to the less frequent points of difference, and then separately describe the more marked varieties.