418 VENERIDiE. 



The length does not greatly exceed an inch, and the 

 breadth, except in the young, is not much inferior. 



The animal has been observed by Mr. Clark, Mr. Alder, 

 and ourselves. It is triangularly suborbicular, and rather 

 thick. The mantle is freely open in front, of a yellowish- 

 white colour, and furnished with a fine white fringe, bor- 

 dered by a reddish line. The tubes are short and united, 

 except near their extremities, where they become separate 

 and diverge. Their orifices are furnished with cirrhi ; 

 those of the branchial are largest and most conspicuous, 

 and are about sixteen or twenty in number. The tubes 

 and cirrhi are of a sulphur-yellow colour, tinged with pale 

 red flakes towards their orifices. The foot is sub-com- 

 pressed, and moderately long. " The branchire are com- 

 posed of a pair of unequal plates on each side, the upper 

 being much smaller than the lower. The labial palps are 

 small." (Clark.) This animal is very sluggish, and, when 

 kept in confinement, is very shy of exhibiting either its 

 foot or siphons. 



Venus fasciata inhabits for the most part gravelly sand, or 

 gravel within the coralline zone. It has a wide range, even 

 from four to sixty fathoms, in our seas. It is very generally 

 diffused, and sometimes occurs in considerable numbers. On 

 the south and west coasts it is especially common, and is very 

 abundant in the Irish sea. A few localities illustrative of 

 its vertical range may be mentioned : — Herm near Guern- 

 sey, very vividly coloured, alive on the long beach (S. 

 H.) ; off Portland in fifteen fathoms, Penzance in twenty 

 fathoms, and Milford in ten fathoms (M'Andrew and E. 

 F.) ; off Cape Clear in forty fathoms, and Kinsale in sixty 

 fathoms (M'Andrew) ; Cape Wrath in fifty-five fathoms, 

 St. Magnus' Bay, Zetland, in forty-five fathoms, and Stor- 

 naway in four fathoms (M'Andrew) ; Eda Sound, in 



