DONAX. 407 



2. D. trun'culus *, Linne. 



D. trunculus, Linn. Syst. Nat. p. 1127 (partly) ; F. & H. i. p. 338. 



Body pale yellowish-white : tubes rather long, cylindrical, 

 thick, and smooth but lineated ; cirri of the alimentary tube 

 branched : foot compressed, lanceolate, sinuous. (Poli.) 



Shell distinguishable from that of D. vittatus by the follow- 

 ing characters : — it is acutely rather than obtusely triangular, 

 more inequilateral and bright-looking : the longitudinal stria? 

 are finer and less impressed, and there are no transverse or 

 concentric stria? : the colour is usually olive, blended with 

 chestnut and variegated by numerous white rays, or yellow 

 with chestnut rays, sometimes orange outside and flamecolour 

 within, or milk-white : the posterior margin is more or less 

 abruptly truncate, and not sloping gradually to a blunt point : 

 the umbones are more prominent : the lateral teeth are much 

 less developed, and often rudimentary or indistinct : and the 

 inner margin is quite smooth below the ligament, instead of 

 being notched or crenulated as in I), vittatus. It attains a 

 larger size than that species, although my British specimen is 

 only -p^ths °f an i ncn l° n © an ^ lyiJ ^ ncn broad. 



Habitat : Exmonth (Clark) ; Torbay (Battersby). 

 Only one specimen was obtained in each of these lo- 

 calities, mixed with the other species. It occurs in the 

 Red Crag (S. Wood), and also in the Italian tertiaries 

 (Brocchi and Philippi). South of Great Britain it is 

 universally diffused, from the coasts of Brittany (De 

 Gerville and Collard des Cherres) to Gibraltar (M f An- 

 drew) and throughout the Mediterranean, iEgean 

 (Forbes), and Red Sea (Von Hemprich and Ehrenberg), 

 both littoral and at depths varying from 2 to 30 fa- 

 thoms. 



This may be the Senegal shell-fish named " Pamet " 

 by Adanson, and which he says the negroes cook and 

 eat, believing that it acts as a laxative. We are told bv 

 Poli that in his time there was no better kind of shell- 

 fish sold at Naples, either for making sauces or season- 



* Having a small piece cut off. 



