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AMERICAN JOURNAL 



the Soleuida; to a shell described by Middendorf (Sib. Reise, p. 

 269, Mai. Rossica, iii, p. 79, pi. xxii, f. 4—10, 1849) as 31a- 

 chaira costata. Middendorf s figures and descriptions, like his 

 synonymy, include several species. Mr. Conrad selects Sitka 

 from among Middendorf s localities, as the habitat of the species 

 which would make his name (which included no differential or 

 other description) a synonymy of patula, the only species found 

 at Sitka. 



Middendorf includes patula, costata, and media in his descrip- 

 tion, and part of his figures refer to one and part to another of 

 these species. The shell in question is well represented by 

 Gray's figure, though usually darker than that is colored, and is 

 without doubt distinct from' either patula or costata. It ranges 

 throughout the northern and western part of Bering Sea, Bering 

 Strait, and probably the Ochotsk Sea. It does not pass into the 

 Pacific. 



ANATINIDiE. 



Entodesma Scammoni, n. s. 



Shell inequilateral, inequivalve, subovate. Left valve slightly 

 the smaller. Shell tumid, umbones inconspicuous, nearly in the 

 middle of the shell. Interior with a brilliantly pearly, white 

 nacre ; hinge margin narrow, nearly straight ; interrupted under 

 the beaks ; right valve with a small rounded projecting process, 

 fitting into an excavation in the opposite valve, which is thick- 

 ened behind it. Ligament and ossicle moderate. Pallial line 

 simple, continuous. Anterior margin evenly rounded ; poste- 

 rior ditto, a little more effuse; ventral margin with the faintest 

 possible indication of flexuosity ; shell gaping behind, but with 

 no perceptible ventral gape. Exterior smooth except for lines 

 of growth, which are more emphasized at intervals, forming 

 three concentric waves from the umbo toward the margin. Shell 

 covered with a thin yellowish brown pubescent epidermis, which 

 is produced over the margins, and under a lens is seen to be very 

 closely, finely, radiately striate. The pubescence is formed by 

 little projecting points of the epidermis at the intersections of 

 the striae with the lines of growth. Shell solid. Lon. -9, alt. 

 •44, diam. -33 in. 



Habitat, Port Simpson, British Columbia, Capt. C. M. Scarn- 

 mon, U. S. Revenue Service. 



This shell comes nearest to Entodesma saxicola, Baird, with 

 which Dr. Carpenter would unite it ; but it appears to me per- 

 fectly distinct. That species takes every imaginable form, nest- 

 ling or boring in rocks and among the roots of fuci. I have ex- 



