TAPES. 349 



Genus II. TAPES * MUhlfeldt. PL VI. f. 6. 



Body oval or oblong : mantle having its edges plain : tubes 

 more or less united : foot usually furnished with a byssal 

 groove. 



Shell triangular or rhomboidal, rather solid, grooved con- 

 centrically but not deeply : lunule lanceolate or indistinct : 

 teeth, three cardinals, which are erect and slender, and an 

 obscure lateral (as in the other genera) in each valve ; inside 

 margin plain. 



I must confess that this is an unsatisfactory genus. 

 The passage from Venus striatula to T. aureus and 

 thence to T. virgineus makes one distrust the character 

 derived from shape ; and neither of the two last-men- 

 tioned species is known to be byssiferous. The only 

 evident marks of distinction that I can find are the 

 mode of sculpture and the slender and nearly parallel 

 teeth : the general configuration and aspect of the shells 

 may also assist us in recognizing the species. It was 

 named Pullastra by the late Mr. George Sower by. 

 Morch and Chenu have treated Tapes and Pullastra as 

 different genera, but without assigning any reason. It 

 is comprised in the genus Venerupis of Lamarck. Tair^ 

 being masculine, that gender must of course be applied 

 to the species. 



1. Tapes au'reus-j-, Gmelin. 



Venus aurea, Linn. Syst. Nat. (ed. G-mel.) p. 3288. T. aurea, P. & H. i. 

 p. 392, pi. xxv. f. 5. 



Shell triangular, convex, moderately solid and opaque, 

 more or less glossy: sculpture, flattened and slightly imbri- 

 cated concentric ribs, or bands divided by shallow and oblique 

 grooves, which are occasionally forked towards the posterior 

 end, besides a few irregular longitudinal lines or scratches, 



* From the ornamentation of the shell resembling that of tapestry, 

 f Golden. 



