Synopsis of the contents of the museum of the Royal College of Surgeons of England.

  • Royal College of Surgeons of England
Date:
1862
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Synopsis of the contents of the museum of the Royal College of Surgeons of England. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by Royal College of Physicians, London. The original may be consulted at Royal College of Physicians, London.

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    strata, while not more than 70 species are known to exist now upon the surface of the globe. The genus Lingula is one of the oldest known forms of organic life, and is interesting as having survived all the changes which have taken place since the de- position of the lowest fossiliferous rocks, as witnessed in one of its present representatives, L. anatina, B 53 [JP.], from the Indian Ocean. Class Lamellibranchiata (Conchifera, Lamarck). This very large Class includes the greater number of mol- lusks provided with bivalve shells. The valves are placed one on each side of the animal's body, by which character, and other important structural differences, they are separated from the Brachiopoda. The elegance of form and beauty of colour of the shells of animals of this Class are well illustrated in the Collection. Among them may be noticed the large Pinna, E 102 [TV.], which is attached to submarine rocks by a tuft of silky fibres, called a byssus, so abundant and fine as to be occasionally used for economical purposes. E 163 [TV.'] is a pair of valves of the Tridacna gigas from the South Seas, which measure 2 feet 10 inches across, and weigh together 165 pounds. The single valve of another individual (E 164 [TV.]) weighs as much as 143 pounds; and a pair of shells of this giant among molluslcs has been known to attain the ■weight of 500 pounds. A curious modification of the bivalve form of shell is seen in Aspergillum (E 332 to 334 [E.]), where the extremely small valves are imbedded in a large shelly tube, formed at one end something like the rose of a watering- pot. The Pholades (E 335 to 341 [F.]) are borers into wood and stone; and the nearly allied Teredines commit great ra- vages in ships' bottoms, and submersed pieces of timber, used in docks, piers, &c., as seen in E 345 and 346 [TV.]. The specimens marked E 349 [W.] are portions of the shelly tube of a gigantic Teredo from the East Indies. Class Pteropoda. The Pteropods are delicate pelagic animals abounding in both the tropical and arctic seas, forming in the latter loca-