338 gastrochjEnidjE. 



Species of ClavageUa. 



aperta, Sow. elongata, Broth 



australis, Soic. lata, Brod. 



balanorum, Schacchi. Meliteusis, Brod. 



Genus BRECHITES, Guettard. 



Shell small, oval, equivalve, widely gaping, both valves 

 imbedded in the walls of the lower end of the shelly tube, 

 the umbones only being visible externally. 



Tube testaceous, elongated, gradually attenuated and open 

 posteriorly, clavate and closed anteriorly or below by a 

 convex disk furnished with numerous tubular holes, and 

 with a minute central fissure, the periphery surrounded by 

 a circular frill of tubes ; the posterior or siphonal end plain, 

 or ornamented with ruffles. 



Syn. Verpa, Bolt. Clepsydra, Meusch., Schum. Peni- 

 cillus, Brag. Aquaria, Berry. Arytsena, Olcen. Asper- 

 gillus, Lam. Adspergillum, Mke. 



Ex. B. vaginiferus, Lamarck, pi. 91, fig. 4. Shell, B. 

 Javanus, Lamarck, fig. 4, a. 



The animal of Brechites is very similar to that of Cla- 

 vageUa, having the same closed and thickened mantle 

 furnished with filaments in front ; the foot is minute, conical, 

 and rudimentary ; the palpi are slender and elongated ; and 

 the narrow gills, united behind, are prolonged into, and 

 attached to, the walls of the branchial siphon. The species 

 are found imbedded in the sand and mud at low-water on 

 the shores of tropical countries, as Singapore, Australia, 

 New Zealand, Java, and the Red Sea, the closed disk with 



