Cardiidae and Veneridae 69 



yellow with more or less brown, conspicuously dark at posterior 

 border; internal margins finely crenate. 



Laevicardinni pktnmioo (Ravenel) PI. 41, fig. 294 



Alt., 14 mm., length 12 mm. Shell small, thin, oblique toward 

 posterior angle, moderately inflated; cream-colored, with zigzag 

 cocoa-colored markings; inside a light cream or white, the outer 

 markings showing through the shell; umbos small and low, toward 

 the anterior of the valves; faint concentric ribs, which show up more 

 on the inside than the outside; internal anterior margin and a short 

 space on the extreme oblique margin are slightly crenate. 



Family VEWERIDAE 



The Veneridae have claim to distinction beyond any others of 

 the pelecypods. The name, from the goddess Venus, suggests the 

 elegance of form and color for which shells of this tribe are remark- 

 able, and as if grace and beauty of form or color were not enough, 

 many of them are elaborately sculptured as well. 



The Veneridae first appeared in remote geologic ages, while in 

 Recent times this family has attained the culmination of pelecypod 

 development. It is now the largest pelecypod family in number of 

 genera and species, and of widest distribution in depth and range. 

 They are native to all seas, and wherever man has found them, he 

 has taken the animals for food and the shells for use and ornament. 

 In ancient times, the shells of a Mediterranean species were worn as 

 an emblem of Aphrodite, and among some South Sea tribes, shells 

 of other species are now worn as personal adornment with the same 

 symbolism. 



The animals are burrowers but do not dig deeply into the sand 

 and are never fixed; they move about freely by means of a flat- 

 tened tongue-shaped foot. 



Shells of most genera of the Veneridae are of a graceful rounded 

 oblong or oval form, equivalve, frequently marked with chevron- 

 shaped lines of brown on a white surface, and distinctly ribbed 

 or grooved along the lines of growth. Some are cancellated by radiate 



1°'' Lat., pictum, ornate, artistic. 



