SOLECURTUS. 



GENERIC CHARACTER. 



Shell equivalved, transversely elongated, gaping at the 

 extremities, which are obtusely and equally rounded ; hinge 

 and basal margins nearly parallel ; apex not prominent ; 

 hinge distant from the extremity ; ligament external, short ; 

 muscular impressions two, remote, oval or angular, distinct ; 

 impression of the mantle profoundly sinuous before ; teeth 

 various, generally imperfect. 



OBSERVATIONS. 



A genus formed by Blainville to receive ten or twelve 

 species, hitherto referred to the genus Solen, and to which 

 they are indeed very closely allied. He divides the genus 

 into three parts, viz. 



A. Compressed, thin, with an anterior rib, obliquely de- 

 current from the apex to the basal margin. S. radialm, 

 Linn. (Genus Siliqua,Megerle; Leguminaria,Schum.) 



B. More cylindric and destitute of the interior rib. S. stri- 

 gillatus, Linn. 



C. More elongated and subcylindric. S. legwnm, Linn. 

 These species shew the connection of the two genera to 



be intimate ; but there is certainly a gi-eat difference in ha- 

 bit, which, in conjunction with the notable characters of 

 tJie rounded form of the muscular impressions, the distance 

 of the hinge from the extremity, &c., in the present group, 



Pi * TE XVIII. I 



