SOLEN. 



41 



223, figs. 2, n. — Tdrton, Concli. Diet. 160, t. Gl. ; Brit. Biv. 82. — Wood, Gen. 

 Conch, pi. 28, fifis. 1, 2 ; Index, ])1. 3, tv^. 6. — Lamarck, An. tsans Vert. 2d ed. vi. 

 55. — Conrad, Marine Coneh. \)\. 5, fig. 1. — Donovan, Brit. Shells, ii. pi. 50. — 

 Maton, Lin. Trans, viii. 44. — Flem. Br. An. 459. — Brown, 111. Conch. 113, pi. 47, 

 lig. 10. — Adams, Gcn.pl. 92, tig. 2 (an.), 2o,&. — Poli, Test. Sieil.pl. 11, fig. 14. — 

 BiRROws, Coneh. pi. 4, figs. 3, 4. — Sown. Coneh. Man. fig. 60. — IIanl. Rec.Sh. 11. 

 — Desh. Exp. Sc. Alge'r. Moll. 184, jil. II, tigs. 1 -4 (animal). — roRi!E.s and IIanl. 

 Br. Moll. i. 250, pi. 14, fig. 2 ; Ipsa Lin. Coneh. 30. — Loven, Ind. :\Io]l. Scand. 49. — 

 CiiENU, Elem. 41, fig. 126. — De Kay, Xat. Hist. New York, 242, pi. 33, fig. 313. 



Solen c.urvus, Lister, Coneh. t. 411, fig. 257. 



Eimis major, CiiENU, Man. de Coneh. i. 21, figs. 87, 88. 



EnsisfaicMta, Gray, Cat. Br. ISIns. (Br. Moll.) 59. 



Ilyporjica falcata, PoLl, ii. 251, t. 10, fig. 7. F'g- 36G. 



Shell scabljard-shaped ; about six times as 

 long as liigli, the ends rounded, the front and 

 liack nearly parallel, white within, and cov- 

 ered without by a glossy yellowish or brown- 

 ish-green epidermis, which folds over the sharp 

 edge of the shell. On the surface is a triangle 

 of lines, marking the termination of the longer 

 end at the successive stages of growth ; hinge 

 at one end ; on one valve is a single tooth from 

 which a rilj or plate extends to the ligament ; 

 on the other valve are two teeth, and a double 

 plate receiving those of the opposite valve be- 

 tween them ; the terminations of the two ril^s 

 rise up in a curved manner and cross each 

 other like teeth, when not broken off, as they 

 usually are. Length of a good specimen, six 

 inches ; height, one inch. A specimen from 

 Halifax, received from Mr. McCulloch, is eight 

 inches long. 



This well-known shell is found on both shores 

 of the Atlantic. It lives on sandy beaches near 

 low-water mark, as at Chelsea, Nahant, and 

 Naiitasket beaches, about Newburyport, Nan- 

 tucket, &c. Eastport ( Cooper) ; Sable Island 

 and all Nova Scotia ( Willis) ; Gulf St. Law- 

 rence (^Bell) ; Grand Manaii, rare (Stimpsoii). 

 It is displaced liy heavy storms, and thrown up 

 by the tide. It may often Ijc seen at low tide 



S. < itsi s. 



projecting a little above the level of the sand, 



but, if touched or disturbed, it descends with astonishing rapidity 



