194 MADRAS FISHERIES BULLETIN VOL. XIV, 



yellow periostracum. In length it grows to five inches ; this large 

 size and the unusual colour of the shell render it conspicuous 

 when thrown up on the beach. It must be fairly common on the 

 Coromandel Coast, so often are its valves seen, particularly in the 

 vicinity of the bars of the backwaters in the vicinity of Madras, 

 Cuddalore and Negapatam. Like most of the other members of 

 the family, this mauve Psammobia has extremely long siphons, 

 each separate from the other. It lives buried deeply in the sand, 

 keeping open communication with the water above by means of 

 its siphons which open level with the surface. When retracted 

 these long siphons occupy much space within the valves; this 

 space is indicated by the deep bay marked upon the hinder part 

 of each valve and known as the pallial sinus ; in this family the 

 sinus is unusually well developed. Several other species, chiefly 

 of the genus Psammobia, are found in India ; they are all much 

 smaller than SoIctcUiua diphos and instead of a pointed posterior 

 end the skjjne is usually blunt or sub-truncate. 



The RAZOR-SHELLS {Solcuidae) are long scabbard-shaped 

 shells living in deep burrows in sandy bays. The foot is enor- 

 mously developed, cylindrical in form, mobile and protean in 

 action, capable of swelling out with lightning rapidity or of thin- 

 ning to a point capable of easy penetration into loose sand. At 

 low tide the slot-like openings of their burrows are often exposed 

 and as one walks near the edge of the sea, little jets of water shot 

 up here and there bespeak the retreat to the bottom of their bur- 

 rows of razor-fish that have felt the vibration of feet upon the sand. 

 It is difficult to dig them out, so far and fast do they burrow ; even 

 if one does manage to seize one by the uppermost or posterior end 

 it is hard to pull a large individual out, for the foot can be 

 expanded at the lower end to form a living bulbous anchor after 

 the fashion of the well-known mushroom anchor used for mooring 

 buoys. Sometimes they hold on so tightly that the swollen end is 

 broken off and left behind. « 



Most Indian species are small in size {Solcu corneus, etc.). They 

 are found on all sandy shores wherever the water is shallow and 

 protected against surf. 



A very pretty relative of the Solens is the Indian SUNSET- 

 SHELL {CidtcUus radiatus). The shell is smooth and oblong and 

 marked by broad wedge-shaped bands of mauve radiating from the 

 umbo. It is found on sandy shores in company with the more 



