210 NEW-YORK FAUNA MOLLUSCA. 



Tellina TENTA. 



Tellina tenia. Say, American Conchology, pi. G5, fig. 3. 



T. id. Adams, Bost. Journ. Nat. Hist. Vol. 3, p. 332. 



T. id. Gould, Inverlebrata of Mass. p. 68, fig. 43. 



Description. Shell small, thin, oval, deflected by the folds to the right. Valves widely- 

 gaping, very convex; the left one more so: margin subtruncate behind; beaks prominent. 

 Surface minutely wrinkled by the lines of growth, with a few fine radiating lines across the 

 middle. Two diverging cardinal teeth in the right valve, and a single one in the left ; a 

 posterior lateral tooth on the right valve, and a corresponding groove in the left. 



Color, white ; the epidermis soiled white : interior, white tinged with yellow, and with 

 faint impressed radiating lines, producing a minutely indented margin. 



Vertical axis, 0"4; transverse ditto, 0"6. Diameter, 0"2. 



Although this shell has been found on the shores of South-Carolina and Massachusetts, 

 yet I have not been able to obtain it along the seacoast of New-York, where it undoubtedly 

 exists. Its distinctive character consists in its flexed valves widely gaping behind, and in its 

 internal radiations. 



(EXTRALIMITAL.) 



T. lateralis. (Say, Ac. Sc. Vol. 5, p. 218.) Shell transversely subovate ; beak nearly central. Poste- 

 rior margin regularly rounded ; anterior margin rostrated, the beak turning to the left and slightly 

 gaping; ligament-slope straight: basal margin regularly arcuated, a little contracted near the beak. 

 Valves with small concentric wrinkles and slight waves; within, these are slightly impressed. 

 Lateral teeth none ; cardinal teeth two in one valve, and one with another scarcely elevated filiform 

 tooth in the other. Color, whitish, often tinged with rusty; within white. Length, 1'5; width 

 2*1. Seacoast. 



T. polita. (Id. lb. Vol 2, p. 276 ; Ess. Jour. Vol. 1, p. 56.) Shell transversely subtriangular, with 

 minute concentric wrinkles : anterior margin rather shortest ; hinge-slope declining in a very 

 slightly arcuated line to a subacute termination; basal margin nearly straight from behind the 

 middle to the anterior end ; a lateral tooth behind the primary one. Color, white, immaculate. 

 Length, • 4 ; breadth, • 6. Southern Coast. 



T. iris. (Id. lb. Vol. 2, p. 302.) Shell very thin and fragile, pellucid, compressed, transversely 

 oblong, suboval: minute concentric wrinkles, crossed by oblique striae which do not attain the 

 margin : margin narrowed and subacute ; basal edge straight, opposite the beaks. Color, white, 

 iridescent, with a rosaceous disk and one or two anterior rays. Length, 0*3; breadth, 0*5. 

 Southern Coast. 



T. flexuosa. Id. lb. Vol. 2, p. 303.) Shell suborbicular : anterior margin longer than the posterior, 

 and less obtusely rounded ; beaks behind the middle, not prominent ; surface with regular parallel 

 oblique impressed lines, refracted and infracted 4-5 times alternately on the anterior margin ; no 

 longitudinal striae ; transverse wrinkles very minute. Color, white. Length, 0*45; breadth, 0*6. 

 Southern coast. 



