THE 
GREAT CHAMA. 
FARE EEE 
GENERIC CHARACTER. 
Animal refembling a Tethys. 
Shell bivalve, thick. 
Hinge furnifhed with a gibbofe callus obliquely 
inferted into an oblique foffule. 
SPECIFIC CHARACTER, Se. 
Great whitifh oblong plaited CHAMA, with 
arched fcales. 
The GREAT CHAMA, or Giant Clamp. 
The fhell reprefented on the plate is not only the 
largeft of the genus to which it belongs, but of the 
whole teftaceous tribe, having been fometimes feen 
of the length of more than three feet, with the in- 
cluded animal fufficient to afford a meal for upwards 
of an hundred perfons. Thefe large fpecimens how- 
ever are by far lefs regular and beautiful than the 
{maller ones. The coloris commonly white, both 
' internally and externally ; but, when young, a flight 
tinge of rofe-color is fometimes vifible. It is a na- 
tive of the Indian feas, and is met with on the fhores 
of moft of the iflands in the great fouthern or paci- 
fic ocean. | 
