SOLECURTUS. 265 



base by far the more caducous ; the front one is shorter and 

 unguiform. In the opposite valve, interlocking- with these, 

 is a strong central greatly curved erect tooth, and behind 

 it a depressed narrow very oblique laminar one. The 

 nymphee are strong and moderately projecting. 



The animal has recently been described and figured by 

 Deshayes, who has shown that its characters are very 

 distinct from those of S. strigilatus. It is much too large 

 for the shell, of a brilliant orange colour ; the mantle is 

 rather paler towards the margin, closed in front, open 

 widely anteriorly for the passage of a very large orange 

 foot, Avith a whitish base. A glistening crucial ligament 

 shines through the mantle. The branchial tubes are 

 united at their bases (where the siphonal mass is large and 

 thick), and separated at their extremities ; the orifices are 

 fimbriated. Its habits are probably similar to those of S. 

 strigilatus, which lives very deeply buried in pure sand, its 

 place marked by perforations on the surface. Deshayes 

 compares the colour of this animal to that of the pulp of an 

 apricot. 



Fine specimens occasionally attain to the length of two 

 inches and a quarter, and the breadth of an inch. 



In England, it has not to our knowledge been detected 

 on the eastern coast, and is sufficiently rare elsewere to be 

 much prized. It is dredged (but without the mollusk) at 

 Exmouth (Clark) ; Torbay ( JeiFreys, &c.) ; Falmouth (S. 

 H.) ; Penzance (M'Andrew and E. F.); and the Isle of Man 

 (E. F.). In the two last instances it occurred in twenty- 

 five fathoms water, which appears to be its most usual 

 depth. The finest valves we have ever seen came from 

 Rantry bay (Humphreys) ; it is likewise taken at Howth 

 (Turton); and Dr. Lloyd (Thompson) procured it from 

 Malahide on the Dublin coast. 



VOL. I. MM 



