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Art. VI. Description of Novaculina, a new Genus of fresh 

 water Bivalves, inhabiting the Ganges and its branches : by 

 W. H. Benson, Esq., Bengal Civil Service, copied from pp. 

 63, 64 & 65, " Gleanings of Science," No. 14, Feb. 1830. 

 Printed at the Baptist Mission Press, at Calcutta. 



Order. Conchifera dimyaria ; Division, Crasssipeda ; Family, 

 Solenacese. 



Genus. Novaculina,* Shell subinequivalve, inequilateral, trans- 

 versely elongated ; ligament external, communicating with the interior 

 of the shell by an oblique channel. Beaks prominent. Hinge line 

 nearly straight, two narrow entering teeth under the beak in one valve, 

 generally three in the other. Siphonal scar very long. Extremities 

 of the shell gaping. Epidermis eeisily detached when dry, folding over 

 the edges and extremities of the shell and connecting the hinge margins. 

 Interior glossy or dull, never pearly. 



Animal. Mantle with the basal edges united, forming a tube which 

 encloses the animal, longitudinally constricted at the suture. Foot pro- 

 ceeding from the anterior extremity, short, thick, cylindrical, and very 

 muscular ; enlarged at the extremity into a disk, with a convex surface 

 the plane of which is at right angles with the axis of the foot and shell 

 Syphons separate as long as the shell, when fully extended ; the anal 

 one, or that nearest the hinge, half the thickness of the other ; aperture 

 constricted, not ciliated. 



Inhabits the Jumna, Gumti, and Ganges. 



When I first discovered this shell, I was induced, from its lengthened 

 form and gaping extremities, to suspect its affinity to the Solenaceac, but 

 the bad state of the deserted shells which 1 found, in which the sharp 

 delicate teeth were worn down to slight tubercles, which appeared of 

 little importance, and the semi-internal ligament induced me to refer it 

 provisionally to Anodonta, accompanied only by a mark of doubt. The 

 teeth are so delicate that they are only to be found in the shell when 

 taken with the animal, and the slightest cleaning brings them down. 



