54 MYAD.E. 



The animal is much larger than the shell ; mantle closed through- 

 out except for the issue of the foot, and an opening for the siphons, 

 which are united to the end, and enveloped in a thick muscular 



Fis. 374. 



(jhjiijiiii ns silniua. 



tissue continuous with the mantle ; foot rather small, conical ; bran- 

 chice two-leaved each side. 



Its proper hal)itat is the Banks of Newfoundland ; but several 

 fine specimens have been hooked up or dredged in the neighbor- 

 hood of Provincetown, within the Cape. Nahant Beach, after 

 stoi'ms {Hdskcll) ; Halifax, Sable Island (^Willis) ; Rimouski, Mar- 

 couin i^BeU). 



It is a very interesting shell, the only living one of the genus 

 yet known. Its wide gajjing, thick interior deposit, toothless hinge, 

 and black exterior, render it impossible to confound it with any 

 other shell. The great size of the animal, which the shell can 

 never enclose, renders it a welcome morsel for that denizen of the 

 Banks, the cod-fish ; and, accordingly, it is not difficult to obtain 

 specimens through the fishermen. In young i^hells the epidermis 

 is smooth, and of a light chestnut-color. 



Family MYADiE. 



Shell often inequivalve, inequipartite, gaping ; hinge wnth a 

 more or less spoon-shaped tooth in one valve, received into a cor- 

 responding excavation in the opposite valve, imited by an interposed 

 cartilage. 



<«ciius MY"A, Lin. 1747. 



Shell transverse, gaping at both ends ; left valve with a single 

 broad, compressed, erect tooth, received into a pit in the opposite 

 valve. 



