48 



SOLENID.E. 



Shell ovate-elliptical, thin, fragile, smooth and diaphanons ; beaks 

 very minute, placed at the anterior fourth of the shell ; posterior 

 portion very little pointed, its upper margin compressed and some- 

 what crested; basal margin sometimes 

 a little contracted ; elsewhere regular- 

 ly arcuated. Epidermis very smooth 

 and shining, of a light yellowish- 

 green color blended with livid-vio- 

 laceous in such a manner as to form 

 three radiated compartments of each 

 color. There are minute wrinkles about the posterior extremity, 

 and minute series of them across the middle of the shell, arranged 

 so as to appear like radiating lines. Within livid, and somewhat 

 iridescent. Rib white, inclining backwards, and extending about 

 two thirds across the valves. Teeth as in the preceding species, 

 excepting that the branch of the bifurcated tooth is less prostrate. 

 The same remark as to their deficiencies applies to this species as 

 to the other. Height, three fourths of an inch ; length, seven twen- 

 tieths of an inch ; width, three tenths of an inch. 



Found abundantly upon every sandy beach, and probal)ly inhabits 

 the sand in shallow water. Whole coast ( Stimpson) ; Fishing Banks 

 (^Wi/lis) ; Rimouski, common (Bell}. It is one of our most beauti- 

 ful shells. It is much more delicate and smaller than M. squama. 

 The radiations of color are evident, but have no very distinct divid- 

 ing lines ; a whitish, narrow ray, running obliquely backwards, and 

 another answering to the interior rib, are generally conspicuous. 

 The colors are also arranged in zones, as Avell as rays. 



Genus SOLEilIYA, Lam. 1818. 



Shell equivalve, inequipartite, elongated ; epidermis thick and 

 shining, projecting far beyond the margin ; beaks inconspicuous ; 

 hinge margin widened and excavated to form a receptacle for a car- 

 tilage, usually resting on a rib-like support. 



Solemya velum. 



Shell oblong, very thin and fragile, epidermis pale yellowish-brown, marked 

 with radiating lines; within purplish-white; cartilage-support arched, the points 

 directed across the shell. 



Solemya velum, Say, Journ. Acad. Nat. Sc. ii. 317 (1822). — Gould, Inv. Isted. 35.— 

 Be Kay, Nat. Hist. New York, 245, pi. 30, fig. 202, — Stimpson, Shells of New- 

 England, 21. 



