200 



rECTENID.E. 



shell, nearly equal, and crossed with small, radiating ridges ; notch 



ill the convex valve deep, 

 and forming an acute an- 

 gle, or narrow slit. Inte- 

 rior shining, grooved to 

 correspond with the exte- 

 rior ribs, the intervening 

 spaces flat ; color white, 

 generally tinged with pur- 

 ple-l)rown about the hinge 

 and around the margin, 

 sometimes altogether of 

 that color. Ligamcntary 

 pit small and slialluw. 

 Length, two and three 

 fifths inches ; height, two 

 and one half inches ; 

 breadth, one inch. 

 The scaUop'Shell is found abundantly about the extremity of Cape 

 Cod, though it does not extend far along its inner shore. It is 

 common along all its outer shore, at Nantucket, Martha's Vineyard, 

 <fec., and, according to Mr. 8ay, is one of the most common shells 

 along the shores of New Jersey. Cape Ann, southward (^Stimp- 

 son) ; Texas (Roemer) ; t^able Island {Wi//is). 



It is subject to great variation in coloring. The flatter valve is 

 often white, and always of a lighter color than the other valve. 

 Sometimes both valves are wdiite, orange, ochreous, reddish, or pur- 

 jtlish, and sometimes they are zoned or mottled with two or more of 

 these colors. In consequence of which they are very pleasing to the 

 eye, and are extensively employed in the manufacture of card-racks, 

 pincushions, <fec. 



Pecten fuscus.* 



Pectenfuscus, Linsley, Shells of Conn, in Sillim. Jonrn. 1st series, xlviii. 278 (1845), no 

 descr. — Goulp, in same, new series, vi. 235, fiij^. 6 (1848). — Stimpson, Shells of 

 New England, 8, in Errata under the name of P. brunneus (1851) ; in Smith. Inst. 

 Check Lists, 2 (1860). 



Shell small, thin, somewhat elongated, slightly convex, with about 

 twenty-four thread-like radiating ribs ; the whole surface, viewed 



* This species was represented in Dr. Gould's MSS. hy a hlank sheet only. I mav men- 

 tion here that Luna sulculus, Leach, has been found at Sable Island ( Willis). — W. G. B. 



