Passing now to the true gasteropods, we shall first consider the _Opisthobranchs_, which are commonly known as Sea Slugs and Sea Lemons. Some of these have no shell at all, and even where one exists it is very rudimentary, usually very small and thin, and concealed within the mantle. The gills are either branched and tree-like, or are composed of tufts or bundles of filaments; and, as the name of the order implies, are situated towards the posterior part of the body. They are also retractile, and when the animal is alarmed it will conceal its gills, thus reducing its body to a shapeless, slimy mass, inviting neither to sight nor to touch. The sea slugs are principally animal feeders, subsisting on small crustaceans, other molluscs, &c.; the food being first reduced by the rasping action of the teeth, and then masticated in a gizzard which is provided internally with horny spines or hard, shelly plates. It will not be necessary to enumerate all the different families of this order, especially as the species are mostly to be found beyond the tide-marks, and are therefore obtained only with the aid of the dredge; but we shall describe a few of the British species with a view of showing the general characteristics of the animals. They are usually divided into two sections, those with exposed or naked gills (_Nudibranchiata_) forming the first, and those in which the gills are covered either by the shell or the mantle (_Tectibranchiata_) comprising the second. In the Nudibranchs the shell exists only during the embryonic stage, and the external gills are arranged on the back or along the sides. The tentacles are not employed as organs of touch, but are probably connected only with the sensation of smell, being provided with filaments of the olfactory nerve; the eyes are small dark-coloured spots embedded in the skin behind the tentacles. Various species are to be found on all rocky coasts, where they range from low-water mark to a depth of fifty or sixty fathoms, but a few are pelagic, living on the surface of floating sea weeds. It is almost impossible to identify the species of nudibranchs from dead specimens, for the classification of the section is based largely on the arrangement of the gills, which are almost always retracted in the dead animals. This is also the case even with living specimens when disturbed or removed from the water; hence they should always be examined alive in sea water, while the animals are extended and moving. [Illustration: FIG. 161.--NUDIBRANCHS 1. _Doto coronata._ 2. _Elysia viridis._ 3. _Proctonotus mucroniferus._ 4. _Embletonia pulchra_]