OTHER BIVALVE MOLLUSKS 87 



acquainted, I took him home in a large glass jar, 

 filled with sea-water and sand, and had the pleasure 

 of seeing him dig a burrow and throw out his beau- 

 tiful siphons. I kept him thus for several days, but 

 he could not live comfortably in my very limited 

 ''ocean," and when he had ceased to live at all I pre- 

 pared his shells for my cabinet, where they remain to 

 this day. 



Within, they are the purest white, resembling fine 

 porcelain. The pallial sinus is large, the hinge-teeth 

 small, and behind them is a thickened portion of 

 shell about half an inch long, which terminates quite 

 abruptly, exposing part of the ligament. Externally 

 it is white, with red rays running from the umbones, 

 while the newer parts are covered with a brown epi- 

 dermis. My specimen was the same size as the 

 figure, but sometimes, and especially in the north 

 they grow considerably larger. 



Psam??iobia ed en tula, Gabb, the Great Sunset- 

 shell, is a fine large species resembling the last, but 

 having the beaks only one third of its length from 

 the front end of the shell. The posterior portion 

 are full and broad. The external ligament is very 

 conspicuous, and the hinge-teeth are present, in spite 

 of its name, two on the right valve and one on the 

 left. The specimen before me was dredged in San 

 Pedro Bay, and measures five inches in length. 



Figure 63 is a rather poor picture of 

 Donax levigata, Desh., the Smooth 

 Wedge-shell. This species is found 

 abundantly in southern California, ^^^.63 

 living just under the surface of the sand. It is short 



