286 TELLINID^. 



large specimen is an inch and a half, and its breadth 

 slightly exceeds one inch. 



This is a rare shell, for which we know no English loca- 

 lity ; in Ireland, it is taken in Dublin, Bantry, and Yalentia 

 bays (Turton) ; and in Wales, it has been picked up on a 

 sandy beach about two miles from Tenby (Lyons). 



It ranges to the Mediterranean and along the north- 

 west coast of Africa.* 



TELLINA, LiNN^us. 

 Shell ovate, oblong or rounded, compressed, subequi- 

 valve, subinequilateral, marked with an umbonal fold, 

 sometimes nearly obsolete ; surface smooth, or marked 

 with transverse, oblique, or radiating striae ; inner margin 

 of valves smooth. Hinge with one or two primary teeth 

 in each valve ; lateral teeth present in some species, obso- 

 lete in others. Ligament external. Muscular impressions 



* It seems highly probable that the T. polygoTia of Montagu, stated to have 

 been dredged by Mr. Laskcy oif Cramond Island in the Frith of Forth, was a young 

 variety of this shell, with which it agrees far better than with the exotic Guinaica 

 of Chemnitz (Conch. Cab. vol. x. p. 348, pi. 170, f. 1051, 1652, 1653,) to which 

 (from the want of more characteristic figures) it is referred by its describer. 



Tdlitia pohitjoiM, Mont. Test. Brit, suppl. p. 27, pi. 28, f. 4 — Tort. Conch. 



Diction, p. 180. — Brit. jMarine Conch, p. 63. — Brown, Illust. 



Conch. G. B. p. 102, pi. 39, f. 33.- Index Testaceolog. pi. 4, 



f. 80. 

 Tcllina Guinaica, Dillwyn, Recent Shells, vol. i. p. 96. 

 Psammohia polygona, Turt. Dithyra Brit. p. QQ. — Flem. Brit. Anim. p. 439. 



" Subovate, suborbicular, of a dirty-white colour, wrought with very fine con- 

 centric striae, which are crossed with excessively fine lines not visible to the naked 

 eye ; the umbo is small, not central, nor turning to either side ; the shorter end 

 is subtruncated and subangulated : the larger end is rounded. Inside not very 

 smooth, the margin uneven : teeth in one valve two, large, and distant (? distinct); 

 in the other one very large, triangular, bifid tooth, with an approximate small 

 one, that might easily be passed unnoticed. Length, half an inch, breadth rather 

 more. The umbo in the only specimen we have examined is ferruginous, but this 

 might have been stained." All the descriptions and delineations cited by us have 

 been drawn from Laskey's solitary specimen. 



