44 SOLENTD^. 



truncated or abruptly rounded ; basal margin somewhat compressed ; 

 surface coarsely wrinkled l)y the stages of growth, and on its disk 

 are a few short, deep, straight scratches from the beak towards the 

 base ; the whole covered by a dense and strong yellowish epidermis, 



which folds over the edge. Hinge 



^^^^^J^l^L^'^'l^^ with two awl-shaped cardinal teeth 



"'"'' *^^^fe ^^ i |||M|^ ill each valve, curved, ascending : 



I . \ ' '' *P H| behind them is a thick rounded cal- 



vv^- 1 ^^r '■ "^ \^^^ Qn which the ligament is fixed. 



"^''"''" ^"s" ibbus '^ Interior white, thickened; pallia! 



impression with a sinus which 

 passes beyond the beaks. Length, four inches ; breadth, one inch ; 

 height, one and one half inches. 



Found in Buzzard's Bay, at New Bedford and its vicinity, occa- 

 sionally, which seems to be its northern limit. From Cape Cod 

 southwards (^Stimpson). 



It cannot be mistaken for any other one of our shells. 



Solecurtus divisus. 



Shell transversely oblong-ovate, arcuated, equipartite, Avitli a reddish stripe 

 from the beaks passing a little backwards, designating the place of an obsolete 

 rib within ; epidermis yellowish. 



Snkn divisus, Speng. Skr. Nat. Selsk. hi. 96 (1794). —O. Fabr. ibid. iv. t. 10, figs. 11, 12. 

 Solenfragilis, Pultexey, Dorset Catal. 28, pi. 4, fig. 5 (1799). — Montagu, Test. Brit. 



51, 5G5, Suppl. 26. — Pennant, Brit. Zool. iv. 174. — Wood, Gen. Conch. 126, pi. 



29, figs. 4, .5 ; Index, pi. 3, fig. 11. — Dillwyn, Catal. 65. — Flem. Brit. Anim. 460. 

 Solecurtus frrifjil is, Conrad, Amer. Mar. Conch. 19, pi. 4, fig. 1. — Gould, Inv. 1st ed. 31. 

 So/en centralis. Say, Journ. Acad. Nat. Sciences, ii. 316 (1822). 

 Psammobia tceniata, Turton, Brit. Biv. 85, pi. 8, fig. 5. 



Solen biclens, Chemn. Conch, xi 203, t. 198, fig. 1939 (1795). — Hanley, Rec. Sh. 16. 

 Solecuiins bidens, Forbes and Hanl. Br. Moh. i. 266. — Stimpson, Sh. of New England, 



22. 

 Macha divisa, Gray, Cat. Br. Mus. (Br. Moll ) 160. 



Shell small and delicate, much longer than high, sub-oval ; beaks 

 not prominent, nearly central, the upjier and lower margins curved, 

 nearly parallel, the posterior end being, however, somewhat more 

 sharply rounded than the anterior ; when viewed at the back, the 

 shell has a peculiar compressed appearance. Surface smooth at the 

 central region, and somewhat wrinkled at the ends ; with a remark- 

 able band of reddish purple passing from the beaks across the shell, 

 growing wider and fainter in its progress ; some fainter and broader 

 radiations may also be seen in old shells, when the epidermis is 



