ANATINA. 67 



Shell small, broadly roimdcd-ovatc, fragile and thin, white and 

 pearly ; the right valve most convex ; inequipartite, the posterior 

 or shorter side narrowed, and at the tip cli}»ped, and moderately 

 gaping; margin, from the beak l)a('kward, a 

 straight line ; the rest of the ontline regnlarly *''=• ^^^• 



cnrved with a slight inflection of the posteal 

 ventral margin ; lieaks jjlaced a1)ont one third 

 of the length of the shell from the posterior 

 extremity, moderately prominent, inclining 

 forwards, and cleft across the middle ; from 

 the beaks to the lower posterior angle runs A.papyrarm. 



an elevated, angular ridge ; surface finely 



marked by the lines of growth, with vestiges of a yellowish white 

 epidermis; interior pearly; tooth long and narrow, slightly con- 

 cave, directed obliquely across the shell, supjiorted beneath hy a 

 short, sharp, elevated rib ; muscular and pallial impressions very 

 superficial. Ossiculum somewhat like two crescents joined at the 

 extremities, fitting in front of the teeth. Length, thirteen twen- 

 tieths of an inch ; height, one half of an inch ; breadth, one fourth 

 of an inch. A fine specimen taken at Anticosti Island ])y Dr. 

 Packard was three times as large. 



Found in the stomachs of fishes caught off Nahant ; and taken 

 by dredging in Newport Harbor l)y Colonel Totten. In three f;ith- 

 oms, fine sand, east of Deer Island, and in four fathoms, soft mud, 

 off the Navy Yard; from Cape Ann, southward (^Sf.iinpson^ ; East- 

 port QCooper') ; Saljlc Island (^Willis) ; Anticosti Island (Packard). 



The animal has the foot long, cylindrical, opa(pie white, and 

 wrinkled across. 



This is undoubtedly the shell described at length by Colonel 

 Totten, and for which he proposes the specific name frag^i/is, ]wo- 

 vided it l)e not the A. papyratia of Say. Mr. Say's dimensions 

 differ a little in their proi)ortions from the New England shell ; 

 l)ut our shells have sufficient latitude of dimensions to render this 

 variation of little importance. 



The only shell we have that resembles it is the Macoma fnsca ; 

 but that shell has less thickness, is equilateral, and rounded through- 

 out, besides the great difference of the hinge. It is also very like 

 Tliracia mijopsis, ])ut is well marked by its spoon-like cartilage 

 pits and acute supporting rib. 



