SOLENIDA. 129 
anseutiton yl SOLE NINA. 
Siphons short and united, foot more or less cylindrical and 
obtuse. Shell elongated, transverse, truncate at both extremi- 
ties ; hinge nearly terminal, usually with a single tooth in each 
valye; pallial line profoundly sinuated and truncated. 
Soxen, Linn., 1757. 
Htym.—Razor-shell. 
Syn.—Hypogea and Hypogeoderma, Poli. 
Distr.—37 sp. World-wide, except Arctic seas; 100 fathoms. 
Fossil, 40 sp. ?Silur., Carb; United States, Europe. S. 
vagina, Linn. (cvi, 6). 
Shell very long, subcylindrical, straight, margins parallel, 
ends gaping ; beaks terminal, or subcentral; hinge-teeth, one in 
each valve; ligament long,external ; anterior muscular impression 
elongated ; posterior oblong; pallial line extending beyond the 
adductors ; sinus short and square. 
Animal with the mantle closed except at the front end, and a 
minute ventral opening; siphons short, united, fringed ; palpi 
broadly triangular; foot cylindrical, obtuse. 
In this genus the mantle is produced behind into a truncate 
siphonal sheath which contains the two short siphons which are 
never extended beyond the shell. The animal has the power of 
changing the terminal portion of the foot from a tapering point 
to an obtuse club. By suddenly extending the foot it is enabled 
to ascend rapidly the deep burrow it forms in the sand. 
The annexed additional account of the Solenis from “ British 
Conchology,” by Dr. J. Gwyn Jeffreys: 
“The razor-fishes (or ‘spout-fishes,’ as they were called by 
Grew and other naturalists of former days) usually burrow in 
the sand at the verge of low-water mark, not perpendicularly, 
but in a slanting direction at an angle of about 60 degrees. On 
the retreat of spring-tides, they may be seen nearly half out of 
their holes, apparently taking in a supply of oxygen for their 
gills. They are evidently sensible of vibratory movements in 
the air, as well as on ground, taking alarm at greater or less 
distances according to the state of the atmosphere and direction 
of the wind. When the Solen is disturbed it squirts out water 
in a strong jet; and having thus compressed the volume of its 
body, it lengthens and darts out its dibble-shaped foot, and 
rapidly disappears below the surface to a depth of two or three 
feet. A Solen-hunt requires considerable alertness ; for if you 
cannot approach near enough to catch them when partly exposed 
to view—and this is not easy, their muscular strength being, in 
proportion to their size, far greater than that of man—and you 
delve with your hands after them, they will probably beat you 
in the race. The stake is much more important to them than to 
