LUCINA. 49 



of Arran 1834." ( W. Thompson) . Off Cape Clear in sixty 

 fathoms (M'Andrew) ; Bantry Bay and Cork Harbour 

 (Humphreys, Barlee). 



It ranges to Finmark, and may be regarded as a cha- 

 racteristic Celtic shell. It is found fossil in both red and 

 coralline crags, so can boast of a high antiquity within the 

 British area. Gould enumerates it among the rarest shells 

 of Massachusetts. Its comparative abundance on the 

 eastern side of the Atlantic, and its presence there in an- 

 cient deposits, would seem to indicate that region as its 

 place of birth as a species. 



L. spinifera, Montagu. 



Oval ; with raised concentric striae, which become spinous at 

 the hinder dorsal termination. 



Plate XXXV. fig. 1. 



Venus spinifera, Mont. Test. Brit. p. 577, pi. 17, f. 1. — Linn. Trans, vol. viii. 

 p. 78. — Turt. Conch. Diction, p. 231. — Dillw. Recent 

 Shells, vol. i. p. 163. — Index Testaceolog. pi. 7, f. 11. 

 Myrtea „ Turt. Dithyra Brit. p. 133. — Flem. Brit. Anim. p. 433. — 



Brown, Ulust. Conch. G. B. p. 98, pi. 36, f. 15, 16, and 

 pi. 39, f. 14. 

 Lucina Hiatelloides, Philippi, Moll. Sicil. vol. i. p. 32. 



„ spinifera, Brit. Marine Conch, p. 74, f. 23.— Macgilliv. Moll. Aberd. 

 p. 255. ? — Hanl. Recent Shells, vol. i. p. 78. — Phiuppi, 

 Moll. Sicil. vol. ii. p. 25. 



There exists in the dorsal aspect of this elegant bivalve, 

 its large and elongated ligament guarded with minute and 

 crowded spinous projections, a fades which readily distin- 

 guishes it from its congeners, whether of native or foreign 

 nativity. As to the general shape and sculpture, these are 

 liable to extraordinary modification. Typically, the former 

 may be stated to be oval, ranging through oboval to 

 somewhat triangularly suborbicular ; the length, however, 



VOL. II. H 



