Haliotis

“ We have now lost sight of the pillar-lip, and in the genus Haliòtis we find a flat, ear-shaped shell, the spire nearly hidden, the disk perforated lengthways with pores. Species twenty-one. The animals that inhabit the ear-shells fasten themselves so firmly to the surfaces of rocks, that much force is needful to disengage them: during the fine nights of summer, the animal feeds on the herbage that grows on the sea-shore. The sea-ear from New Zealand, and that from California, are superb shells of considerable size. The British species, Haliòtis tuberculàta, is not uncommon. ”

“ The empty earshell of Haliotis, especially in New Zealand, Haliotis iris, Martyn, is known as Venus' Ear; Maori name, Paua (q.v.) . A species of the same genus is known and eaten at the Cape and in the Channel Islands. (French name Ormer, sc. Oreille de mer.)
1882. Rev. J. E. Tenison-Woods, `Fish and Fisheries of New South Wales,' p. 92:
"Then mutton fish were speared. This is the ear-shell fish (Haliotis naevosa) , which was eagerly bought by the Chinese merchants. Only the large muscular sucking disc on foot is used. ”

“ Very little trouble has been taken by explorers and writers to identify the numerous species collected.
[pg 191] Haliotis.—The Haliotis affords one of the best examples of the varied uses to which the natural shell has been applied by savage peoples. Recent explorations conducted by the government exploring parties in California have brought to the notice of archæologists and the world the existence of a new field of research—the burial-places of the ancient tribes of the Pacific coast. Many of the interments of this region are probably post-Columbian. ”

“ Many were used as paint-cups, and still retain dark pigments, probably ochers; one of these, a fine example of the Haliotis californianus, is shown in Fig. 4, Plate XXI. Some had contained food, and in a few cases still retained the much-esteemed chia seed, while in others were found asphaltum, which was employed by these peoples in a variety of arts, the rows of eyes in the Haliotis usually being stopped with it, and in one case, as shown in a specimen in the National Museum, it has been used to deepen a cup by building up a rim around the edge of a shallow shell. ”

“ Some of the more beautiful species were formerly very abundant on the coasts of China and Japan, but the constant use of the animal for many years as a food stuff has made them less common there and the Chinese and Japanese now obtain a large part of their supply from California, where the haliotis or abalone, as it [247] is called is taken in great quantities. The two most beautiful species found on this coast are, the Haliotis splendens, a magnificent shell of rainbow coloring in which peacock green predominates, and H. rufescens, the lining of which is red. ”

“ Such are Haliotis tuberculata, which, abundant in the Channel Isles, is not indigenous on our own shores, Emarginula rosea, occasionally taken on the south coast of England, but frequent on the coast of Guernsey, Truncatella Montagui, Rissoa Bryerea, denticulata and calathisca, Calyptrea sinensis, Donax complanata, Lucina pisiformis, Galeomma Turtoni, Pandora rostrata, and Lithodomus lithophagus. These species mark the bounds of a fauna which can scarcely be regarded as within our limits. ”

“ A univalve mollusk of the genus Haliotis. The shell is lined with mother-of-pearl, and used for ornamental purposes; the sea-ear. Several large species are found on the coast of California, clinging closely to the rocks. ”

“ In Haliotis it is of considerable breadth, and is covered by a number of lobes which spring from a moss-like prolongation of the skin. From the epipodium are developed the lateral tentaculae of Monodonta (Fig. 82, p. 178) , and of other sub-genera of the Trochidae. [311]
In the Opisthobranchiata the lateral edges of the foot (the parapodia) are frequently produced into broad folds or wing-like extensions, which in many cases tend to fold over the shell, and, in conjunction with the mantle, eventually imbed it altogether. ”

“ In the shell of a Patella, Emarginula, or Haliotis, we have the two conjoined valves of a lamellibranchiate mollusk; and through such forms as Calyptræa, Hipponyx, Navicella, and Nerita, we arrive at the ordinary form of the gasteropod with its operculum.
Then follows a disquisition on the progressive tendency to a spiral geometry in these animals, due to a varying plan of conformation, and not to the force of the heart, there being generally an atrophy of the left side of the body. ”

“ In one a single perforation has been made near the upper end; in the other there are two, one near each end. The faces have been neatly dressed and the corners ornamented with minute notches. They are from graves on Santa Cruz Island. Two exquisite specimens, also from Santa Cruz Island, are presented in Figs. 3 and 4. They have been cut from the body of a [pg 263] Haliotis splendens (?) , and finished with much care. Two perforations have been made near the upper margin, which is arched or curved while the lower is nearly straight. ”

“ Shell. Ear-shaped, imperforate, spire prominent; aperture entire, large, oblong; right margin and columella equally raised; a transverse and tuberculated rib on the back. Inhabits the Indian Ocean. Two species.
Stomatia phymotis. S. obscurata. 4. Genus Haliotis. Pl. XI. Animal. Body oval, much depressed, slightly spiral posteriorly, provided with a large foot doubly fringed at its circumference; head depressed; tentacula a little flattened; eyes at the summit of prismatic peduncles situated at the external side of the tentacula; mantle very thin, deeply slit at the left side ”

“ Note also that most slugs have many variations in colour and markings.
Testacella haliotidea.—This genus of slugs forms a link between the naked slugs with rudimentary shells within, and the snails which live within their shells. The name Testacella, or little shell, was given by Cuvier in 1800, because this slug has a small shell at the end of the tail. Haliotidea means having a shell in the form of the marine shell Haliotis, the meaning of which again is the ear-shaped seashell, often called “Venus’ Ear.” It is subterranean in habit, and lives on worms. ”

“ The not inconsiderable differences met with among different types are capable of explanation on the ground that certain forms have advanced farther than others along this particular line of evolution. In other words, it is most probable that the Haemosporidia are to be regarded as comprising various parasites which represent different stages intermediate between, on the one side, a Flagellate, and on the other, a typical chlamydospore-forming Ectosporan parasite. ”

“ The reason why the upper classes comparatively seldom suffer from hydatids may be attributed to the circumstance that those few who drink water take the very proper precaution to see that it is either “pump” or fresh spring water in which no living six-hooked embryos are likely to exist. So far as hydatids are concerned, wine and beer drinking is preferable to water-drinking; yet if water is carefully filtered no evil of the parasitic kind can possibly result from its imbibition. ”

“ The chief characters which distinguish the Haemosporidia from other Ectospora are the following. They are invariably blood parasites, and for part or all of the trophic period come into intimate relation with the cellular elements in the blood. There is always an alternation of hosts and of generations, an Invertebrate being the definitive host, in which sexual conjugation is undergone and which is to be regarded as the primary one, a Vertebrate being the intermediate or secondary one. The zygote or sporont is at first capable of movement and known as an ookinete. ”

“ The crustacean waves these around to gather food, and eats the pieces they capture that are too big for them. This is biontergasy, two creatures living and working together, yet each capable of existing alone. Now, this same crustacean has a parasite living under its shell, a degenerated form of a snail that has lost all powers of movement. A true parasite that takes food from its host's body and gives nothing in return. Inside this snail's gut there is a protozoan that lives off the snail's ingested food. Yet this little organism is not a parasite as you might think at first, but a symbiote. ”

“ Karyolysus of lizards and certain species of Haemogregarina) it reacts markedly upon the nucleus and soon causes its disintegration. While many Haemosporidia (e.g. malarial parasites, with the exception of Halteridium) remain in connexion with the same corpuscle throughout the whole period of growth and schizogony, the new generation of merozoites first being set free from the broken-down cell, others (the Haemogregarines, 807 broadly speaking, and also Halteridium) leave one corpuscle after a short time, wander about free in the plasma, and then seek out another ”

“ In its fresh state the halibut is not very delicate, and is hard and difficult of digestion; however, its great size renders it a valuable prize. We may add that, notwithstanding its great size, the halibut has deadly enemies in the dolphins, as well as in the birds which prey upon fishes on the shore. It is itself a voracious fish, devouring crabs, cod-fish, and even the Raiadæ, not even sparing its own species; they attack each other, nibbling at the tail or fins. ”

“ Etiology.—There are at least three species of animal parasites which produce human malaria, Plasmodium vivax, the cause of benign tertian, P. malariae of quartan and P. falciparum of aestivo-autumnal. These parasites belong to the haemamoeba type of the order Haemosporidia, of the class Sporozoa and of the phylum Protozoa.
This type of Haemosporidia is characterized by invasion of red cells, amoeboid movement, pigment production and the extrusion of flagellum-like processes from the male sporont after the blood is taken from the animal and allowed to cool. ”

“ The Cylindrical Halictus is at work in the first days of May. It is a rule among the Hymenoptera for the males never to take part in the fatiguing work of nest-building. To construct cells and to amass victuals are occupations entirely foreign to their nature. This rule seems to have no exceptions; and the Halicti conform to it like the rest. It is therefore only to be expected that we should see no males shooting the underground rubbish outside the galleries. That is not their business. ”

“ It is further suggested that the custom of eating the flesh of fishes raw almost universal in Japan, Hawaii, and other regions may be responsible for the spread of certain contagious diseases, in which the fish acts as an intermediate host, much as certain mosquitoes spread the germ of malaria and yellow fever. ”

“ The body is generally uniform in shape, with cilia and contractile vacuole, frequently also with cytostome; usually has macro- and micro-nucleus; live free in water and also parasitically.
The orders Holotricha, Heterotricha, Oligotricha, Hypotricha and Peritricha are classified according to the arrangement of the cilia.
Class V.—Suctoria. Bodies with suctorial tubes, contractile vacuoles, macro- and micro-nucleus, no cytostome. They generally invade aquatic animals as cavity parasites, yet also attack plants; early stage ciliated. Live sometimes as parasites on Infusoria. ”

“ THE HALICTI: PARTHENOGENESIS.
The Halictus opens up another question, connected with one of life's obscurest problems. Let us go back five-and-twenty years. I am living at Orange. My house stands alone among the fields. On the other side of the wall enclosing our yard, which faces due south, is a narrow path overgrown with couch-grass. The sun beats full upon it; and the glare reflected from the whitewash of the wall turns it into a little tropical corner, shut off from the rude gusts of the north-west wind. ”

“ Many species are "epiphytic" or "epizoic," dwelling on plants or animals, and sometimes choice enough in their preference of a single genus or species as host. Others again are "moss-dwellers," living among the root-hairs of mosses and the like, or even "terrestrial" and inhabiting damp earth. The Sporozoa are internal parasites of animals, and so are many Flagellates, while many Proteomyxa are parasitic in plant-cells. The Foraminifera (with the exception of most Allogromidiaceae) are marine, and so are the Radiolaria; while most Heliozoa inhabit fresh water. ”

“ The action of the mollusk results differently as the object to be covered is free within the folds of the creature's mantle or, rising above the surface of the nacreous lining, presses upon it. If free, the intruder is enveloped by the animal's exudations and the deposits become concentric instead of level, or nearly so, as in the construction of the shell. It is said that the foreign substance acts as an irritant, causing the fish to exude its secretions abnormally in order to protect itself, and thereby creating a diseased [155] condition ”

“ The splenic blood is more rich in haemozoin than that of the other vessels, this indicating the spleen as the place of destruction of infected red cells or as the nursery for the development of malarial parasites. As a matter of fact splenectomy may cure an old malarial cachectic.
The finding of pigmented mononuclears or pigmented parasites in a cross section of a blood vessel makes for a diagnosis of a malarial infection.
Malarial manifestations are common in tropical autopsies and one must be very chary about reporting malaria as the real rather than contributing cause of death. ”

“ HALIBUT, or Holibut (Hippoglossus vulgaris) , the largest of all flat-fishes, growing to a length of 10 ft. or more, specimens of 5 ft. in length and of 100 ℔ in weight being frequently exposed for sale in the markets. Indeed, specimens under 2 ft. in length are very rarely caught, and singularly enough, no instance is known of a very young specimen having been obtained. Small ones are commonly called “chicken halibut.” The halibut is much more frequent in the higher latitudes of the temperate zone than in its southern portion ”