44 solenidj:. 



truncated or abruptly rounded ; basal margin somewhat compressed ; 

 surface coarsely wrinkled by the stages of growth, and on its disk 

 are a few short, deep, straight scratches from the beak towards the 

 base ; the whole covered by a dense and strong yellowish epidermis, 



which folds over the edge. Hinge 

 '^'  with two awl-shaped cardinal teeth 



in each valve, curved, ascending : 

 behind them is a thick rounded cal- 

 lus, on which the ligament is fixed. 

 g_ „-jj,^^ Interior white, thickened ; pallial 



impression with a sinus which 

 passes beyond the beaks. Length, four inches ; breadth, one inch ; 

 height, one and one half inches. 



Found in Buzzard's Bay, at New Bedford and its vicinity, occa- 

 sionally, which seems to be its northern limit. From Cape Cod 

 southwards (Stimpson). 



It cannot be mistaken for any other one of our shells. 



Solecurtus divisus. 



Shell transversely oblong-ovate, arcuated, equipartite, with a reddish stripe 

 from the beaks passing a little backwards, designating the place of an obsolete 

 rib within ; epidermis yellov^ish. 



Solen divisus, Speng. Skr. Nat. Selsk. iii. 96 (1794). —O. Fabr. ibid. iv. t. 10, figs. 11, 12. 

 Solenfmgilis, Pulteney, Doi'set Catal. 28, pi. 4, fig. 5 (1799). — Montagu, Test. Brit. 



51, 565, Snppl. 26. — Pennant, Brit. Zool. iv. 174. — Wood, Gen. Conch. 126, pi. 



29, figs. 4, 5 ; Index, pi. 3, fig. 11. — Dillwyn, Catal. 65. — Fi.em. Brit. Anim. 460. 

 Solecurtus fragiJis, Conrad, Amer. Mar. Conch. 19, pi. 4, fig. 1. — Gould, Inv. 1st ed. 31. 

 Solen centralis, Sat, Jonrn. Acad. Nat. Sciences, ii. 316 (1822). 

 Psnmmohia tceniata, Turton, Brit. Biv. 85, pi. 8, fig. 5. 



Solen Helens, Chemn. Conch, xi 203, t. 198, fig. 1939 (1795). — IIanley, Rec. Sh. 16. 

 Solecurtus bidens, Forbes and Hanl. Br. Moll. i. 266. — Stimpson, Sh. of New England, 



22. 

 Macha divisa, Gray, Cat. Br. Mas. (Br. Moll) 160. 



Shell small and delicate, much longer than high, sub-oval ; beaks 

 not prominent, nearly central, the upper and lower margins curved, 

 nearly parallel, the posterior end being, however, somewhat moi'e 

 sharply rounded than the anterior ; when viewed at the back, the 

 shell has a peculiar compressed appearance. Surface smooth at the 

 central region, and somewhat wrinkled at the ends ; with a remark- 

 able band of reddish purple passing from the beaks across the shell, 

 growing wider and fainter in its progress ; some fainter and broader 

 radiations may also be seen in old shells, when the epidermis is 



