60 POPULAR BRITISH CONCHOLOGY. 



Y. LuTRARiA is a rather large burrowing mollusc, with a 

 long foot protruding through the otherwise closed 

 mantle, and the siphons united into a very rugged, 

 thick, double tube, with stellated orifices, and a long 

 or oval bivalve shell, with triangular pits in the hinge ; 

 ligament partly external, but the elastic part contained 

 in the pit within. 

 L. ellijotica has a large, broad, brownish shell, covered with 



a dark olive-green epidermis. 

 L. ohlonga ov Solenoides has the shell narrow, curved, and 

 rather truncated at the ends. The same as L. elliptica 

 as to colouring and epidermis. 

 In their burrowing, these Lidrarice rather choose soft 

 mud than clean sand. In an interesting paper by Captain 

 King, describing some mollusca collected by the officers of 

 the 'Beagle,' the following circumstance is related of the 

 Mactra edulis : — " This shell was found in abundance on 

 the flat of sandy mud which fronts the west shore of Port 

 Tamine, and proved a valuable article of food to the ship's 

 company, particularly during the winter months, when sea- 

 birds and game were not to be procured, and the fish had 

 deserted us. I have named it, in allusion to its affording 

 us a grateful, as well as seasonable, supply of fresh food.'' 



