40 



SOLENID^. 



the beaks to the middle of the base. 



Fi?. 365. 



Z. crispata. 



Interior smooth, showing 

 the external furrow, the 

 upper and anterior edge 

 turned outwards so as 

 to present large, smooth 

 callosities over the beaks. 

 The process from within 

 the cavity of the beaks 

 is large, narroAv, and a 

 little flattened at the tip. 

 Length, two inches ; 

 height, one inch and a 

 half. 



A very perfect specimen of this shell is in the cabinet of Dr. S. 

 Bass, whicli was found at Phillips's Beach. Young specimens were 

 found in hard clay at Phillips's Beach by Mr. Joseph True. They 

 differ i)rincipally in gaping only anteriorly. Full-grown valves are 

 occasionally thrown up on all our beaches ; 1jut it is more common at 

 the South, as along the shores of New Jersey. When alive, a mem- 

 branous expansion covers the superior border of the shell. 



Nahant Beach, very large, fresh (Haskell) ; Sable Island, gigan- 

 tic ( Willis) ; Rimouski (Bell) ; abundant in Charleston Harbor, 

 S. C. (Stimpson). It is common in all the seas of Northwestern 

 Europe. 



Family SOLENIDyE. 



Shell cquivalve, greatly elongated, rather cylindrical, gaping at 

 both ends. 



Genus SOL.E1V, Lin. 1758. 



Shell with the sides nearly parallel ; beaks very small, terminal ; 

 cardinal teeth small, rounded, variable. 



Solen ensis. 



Shell six times as long as high, curved, front and back parallel, smooth, yellow- 

 ish-green; hinge with one tooth and a sharp lateral plate of one valve entering 

 between two teeth and a double plate of the other. 



Solen fitisis, Lin. Syst. Nat. 1114. — Pennant, Brit Zool. iv. 81, t 4.5, fig. 22 — Chemn. 

 Conch, vi. 47J t. 4, fig. 3Uc. — Montagu, Test. Brit. 48. — Bulg. Encyc. Meth. pL 



