10 SOLENID.E. 



Ceratisolen legu'men *, Linne. 



Solen legumen, Linn. S. N. p. 1114. Ceratisolen legumen, F. & H. i. 

 p. 256, pi. xiii. f. 2 (as Solen legumen), and (animal) pi. I. f. 4. 



Body compressed,, yellowish -white : mantle suffused with 

 red : edges of the open part fringed in front, but not at the 

 sides : tubes rather long, for the most part separate and 

 diverging, of a reddish hue ; orifices cirrous : foot reddish- 

 purple ; when contracted it is oblong and truncated, and when 

 extended the extremity becomes club-shaped. 



Shell pod-shaped, smaller at the anterior than at the 

 posterior extremity, semitransparent, glossy and partially iri- 

 descent : sculpture, numerous and fine but irregular striaB in 

 the line of growth, and a few slight and minute longitudinal 

 strise in the middle, which radiate from the beaks to the 

 front : colour pale yellowish-white ; epidermis like oil-skin, 

 yellowish-green or sometimes light orange, puckered by the 

 radiating stria? : margins nearly straight in front and behind, 

 curved obliquely upwards at the anterior end, and rounded at 

 the other end ; the dorsal compartment or area appears to be 

 separated from the ventral part in consequence of the epi- 

 dermis being thinner and of a paler hue : bealcs blunt, inclin- 

 ing a little to the anterior side, which they approach within 

 about two-fifths of the whole distance : ligament long, narrow 

 at first, and expanding gradually outwards, dark horncolour 

 or black : hinge-line nearly straight : hinge-plate thick, and 

 short, strengthened in each valve by a slightly curved rib to 

 support the ligament, by a long angular rib on the anterior 

 side, and by a callous and short rib running nearly at a right 

 angle with the beak : teeth, in the right valve an erect and 

 wedge-like cardinal, and in the left two similar cardinals, 

 which resemble a pair of nippers ; each valve has a lateral at 

 no great distance from the cardinal teeth, of an irregular shape 

 and bent towards each other, that in the right valve being 

 sometimes double : inside chalky-white, but nacreous in some 

 parts and occasionally exhibiting minute pearls; margin 

 rather sharp : pallial scar indistinct ; the fold is withdrawn 

 far into the interior : muscular scars irregular ; the anterior 

 elongated and extending to the central rib, the posterior tra- 

 pezoidal. L. 0*9. B. 4. 



* A bean-pod. 



