MYA TRUNCATA. 265 



ORDER II— BIVALVES. 



DIVISION I.— DENTATED. 



GENUS.— MYA, OR THE OYSTER.* 



SPECIES FOUND IN GREENLAND, HAVING 

 GAPING VALVES. 



MYA, OR PEARL OYSTER. 



Generic Characters. — Shell generally gaping at one end, 

 and furnished with broad, strong, thick, broad teeth at the 

 hinge, and not inserted into the opposite valve. 



SPECIES I. 



MYA TRUNCATA, 



OR 



TRUNCATED PEARL OYSTER, t 



The shell is truncated at the smaller end, where it gapes, 

 and is wrinkled concentrically ; the valves are concave and 

 reflected at the smaller end, both broad and erect. It is 

 about two inches long, and about three broad.J Captain 

 Phipps found this species on the beech in Smeerenberg 

 Harbour. It is also found lodged under gravel at low 

 water mark, on various parts of the British shores. It is the 

 shell which Pennant should have referred to as containing 

 the animal eaten by the Hebridians. In Orkney and Shet- 

 land it is used as a supper dish when boiled, and is called 

 " smurslin." 



* Genus xlvi. Brewster s Conchology. 

 t Synonyme. — Avicula Margaritifera. 

 % Pennant's British Zoology, vol. iii. 



