WASHINGTON CLAM. 55 



times living two feet below the surface of the 

 mud. For such a situation it is provided with 

 an enormous siphonal tube through which it 

 pumps water from above. This species is used for 

 food, and a few of them are sufficient for an ex- 

 cellent chowder. The shell is oblong, bulged, 

 rather thin, and gapes widely where the siphons 

 pass. The hinge teeth are small ; the ligament 

 is large, internal, and lodged in a triangular pit. 

 The pallial sinus is very broad and deep, the 

 lower part of it joining the ventral line. Exter- 

 nally the shell shows only rough lines of growth, 

 and is sometimes covered with an epidermis. It 

 delights in muddy bays, and sometimes grows 

 to a length of ten inches. 



The bodega Tellen, Tellina Bodegensis, Hinds, 

 Fig. 1, PI. XV, is a very pretty sand-loving 

 shell, smooth, thick, and heavy, and is about two 

 inches long. The surface is polished, of a 

 creamy white color, and marked with fine con- 

 centric lines. The posterior extremity of the 

 shell is narrow, and somewhat bent to one side. 

 The ligament is external, the hinge teeth are very 

 small, but the pallial sinus is long and narrow. 

 Old specimens show a tendency to thicken the 

 shell from the inside. 



Fig. 2, PI. XV, represents the little shell so 

 often found in the sand near the Cliff House, 

 named Macoma inconspicua, Br. & Sby. It is 

 a thin, flat, pinkish little shell, about half an 

 inch long. A variety is white and larger. 



Macoma secta, Conr., has a very thin, white, 

 olossy shell, sometimes faintly marked with red. 

 The ligament is short and strong placed just 



