210 RHYNCHONELLID^. 



RhyrLchonella psittacea. 



Fig. 91. 



Shell sub-triangular, contracted above, the beak produced mto a decurved 

 horn; surface striated, foramen triangular. 



Anomia rostrum puittaci, Chemn. Conch, viii. 106, t. 78, fig. 713. 



Anoinia psitiacea, Gmelin, Syst. 3348, No. 41. — Dillwyn, Catal. i. 290. — Wood, In- 

 dex, pi. 11, fig. 27. — TuKT. Conch. Diet. 5, fig. 42-44. 



Terebrntu/a psittacea, Desha yes, Encyc. Metli. Vers. ill. 102, pi. 244, figs. 3, a, b, c. — 

 L.vM. An. sans Vert. 2d ed. vii. .333. — Turtox, Brit. Biv. 236. — Fleming, Brit. 

 An. 368. — Thompson, Ann. Nat. Hist. xiii. 433 ; Brit. Mar. Conch. 127. — Brown, 

 111. Conch. Gr. Brit. 68, pi. 46, figs. 2-4. — Crouch, Introd. Lam. Conch, pi. 13, 

 fig. 4. — Sowerby, Genera, fig. 5 ; Thesaur. i. 342, ph 71, figs. 78-80. — Sowekby 

 (Junior), Conch. Man. fig. 202. — Gould, Inv. of Mass. 141, fig. 91. — Reeve, Conch. 

 Syst. pi. 126, fig. 5. — Middendorff, Malae. Ross, part 3, p. 1, t. 11, figs. 11-17. 



Hi/pothi/ris psittacea, King, Ann. Nat. Hist, xviii. 238 (1846). — Forbes and Hanley, 

 Brit. Moll. ii. 346, pi. 67, figs. 1-3 — Stimpson, Shells of New England, 7. 



Rhjjnchonella psittacea, Owen, Trans. Zool. Soc. i. 145, pi. 22, figs. 12-14 (animal). — 

 Adams, Genera, ii. 582, pL 132, figs. 2, 2a, 2b. — Chenu, Man. de Conch, h. 219, 

 figs. 1126-1128. 



Shell thin and fragile, brownish-hlack or sea-green, of an inflated, 

 triangular form, one of the valves produced into a long, pointed, and 



strongly curved hoak, something like a parrot's 



F's- f'Oi- beak ; along this runs a triangular channel, formed 



by the inflected margins, the third side of which 



is completed by the tip of the other valve ; the 



smaller valve is obovate or fan-shaped, about two 



thii'ds the length of the longer valve ; surface 



marked with concentric lines of growth, and with 



numerous, fine, diverging stria?, increasing in 



number as the shell widens. The interior bony 



processes consist of two slender, curved, parallel 



prongs, arising from the base of the teeth of the 



upper valve. Height, one half incli ; length, 



R. psittacea. scveii twcutietlis of an inch; breadth, one fiftli 



of an inch. 



I have as yet mot with only one specimen of this shell of the 



above dimensions, which w^as taken from the stomach of a codfish. 



It appears to be everywhere rare, and is proliably an inliabitant of 



more northern seas, especially the region of Newfoundland. 



[Deep sea Coral Zone, Northern Coast (^Slimpson) ; Banks of St. 

 Margaret's Bay ( Willis^ ; Dronthcim to North Ca])c (dredged in 

 forty to one hundred and fifty fathoms) (^McAndreiv) ; Russian 



