Studies on the biology of limpets: I. The late J. H. Orton's work on Patella

At the time of his death in 1953 Orton had almost completed an extensive study of the biology of the three British species of Patella. Although certain aspects of the investigation were dealt with by collaborators and have already been published (Crewe, 1947 on parasites; Goodwin, 1950 on pigments; Jones, 1948 on ecology) most of the breeding and spawning data have been neither analysed nor published. With the knowledge that Orton's records contained the most complete information on breeding yet compiled for a littoral animal, and that these records had considerable bearing on the question of speciation in Patella , we have attempted to analyse and present those which are most complete.