109 



133. semisulcata, Sow. 



134. simplex, id. 



135. Sinensis, Chemn. 



136. Solandii, Gray. 



137. spathulata, Soto. 



138. splendens, id. 



139. squalida, id. 



140. striata, Gray ? 



141. subelliptica, Sow. 



142. subinflata, id. 



143. subquadrata, zrf. 



144. subpellucida, Sow. 



145. sulcatina, Lam. 



146. Tellinoidea, Sow?. 



147. tigerina, Lam. 



148. tigrina, Reeve. 



149. tortuosa, ^rorf. 



150. trigonella, Lam. 



151. trimaculata, m?. 



152. tripla, i?«w. 



153. tnmefacta, -Sow. 



154. umbonella, Lam. 



155. undatina, Lam. 



156. undulata, £o?0. 



157. unicolor, id. 



158. vaginalis, Menke. 



159. varians, Hani. 



160. Yenetiana, Zavw. 



161. ventricosa, 5;-^. Jfws. 



162. virginea, Adams. 



163. vulnerata, Brod. 



164. zonaria, Zam. 



Cytheilea lupinaria. PL 35. Fig. 189. Shell illustrative of the small 

 group, distinguished by a profusion of long spines set around the 

 posterior. 



Genus 3. VENUS, Linnceus. 



Animal ; ovate or suborbicular, thick, its mantle open throughout, 

 and fringed or furbeloioed at the margins ; siphons separate, 

 and diverging, or partially, or even entirely united to their ex- 

 tremities, where the orifices are surrounded by fringes of cirrhi ; 

 foot linguiform, apiculate, not furnished with a byssal groove. 

 (Forbes.) 



Shell ; ovate or triangularly orbicular, generally elaborately sculp- 

 tured ; hinge composed mostly of thick, interlocking, diverging, 

 cardinal teeth in each valve ; Innule conspicuous. 



The Goddess of beauty is not unfitly represented by the series of shells 

 associated in this genus. Not only do they display an almost endless 

 variety of colour and marking, but an exquisite variation of sculpture. Of 

 a hundred and thirty species, chiefly tropical and subtropical, the majority 

 are frilled in concentric order, with most curious varieties of lamellar 

 ridges, daintily rayed and tinted, and the range of habitation, even in the 

 same species, varies from the water-edge to considerable oceanic depths.* 



* " Venus striatula and Venus ovata live indifferently at the margin of the sea, and beneath 

 a depth of more than one hundred fathoms. Such capacities for enduring great differences of 

 pressure warn us not to lay too great stress on that iufluence as a regulator of distribution, the 

 more so as examples of these mollusks drawn suddenly up from very great depths appear to ex- 

 perience no inconvenience from the rapid change of conditions, and display their siphons and 

 other organs as readily in a basin of sea-water as they could ever have done in the profound re- 

 cesses of their birth." — Forbes and Hanley, Brit. Moll, vol. i. p. 400. 



