VENUS. 



133 



Venus mercenaria. 



Fiir. 44."), 



Fig. 52. 



Shell solid, obliquely ovate, very inequipartite ; lunule heart-shaped ; .surface 

 antiquated, bluish-white, with numerous, concentric laminated ridges; inner 

 margin broadly edged with violet. 



Pectunculus, Lister, Conch, t. 271, Her. 107. 



Vrnus mercenaria, Lin. Syst. Nut. 11.31. — Gmelin, Sy.st. .3271. — Cuemx. Conch, x. 

 352, t. 171, figs. 1659, 1660. — Deshayes, Encyc. Me'th. Vor.s, iii. 1117, pi. 26.3, rigs. 

 1-3. — Lam. An. sans Vert. 2d cd. vi. 346. — Dillwyn, Catal. i. 176.— Wood, 

 Index, pi. 7, rig. 40. — Sowerhy, Thes. ii. 733, pi. 162, figs. 204-206. — Chenu, 

 111. Conch, pi. 8, fig. 5. -De Kay, Nat. Hist. New York, 217, pi. 27, fig. 276.— 

 Hanley, Descr. Cat. 115. — Reeve, Conch. Icon. {Venus) pi. 2, figs. 4a, b. — 

 RoMER, Krit. Untersuch. 36. — Schum. Nouv. Syst. 135, pi. 10, fig. 3. 



Mercenaria violacca, Sciioi. (1817) Nouv. El. 135, pi. 10, fig. 3. — Adams, Gen. ii. 419, 

 pi. 107, figs. 2, 2a. — Deshayes, Cat. Brit. Mns. (Biv.) 11.3. 



Mercenaria mercenaria, Chenu, Man. de Conch, ii. 82, figs. 356-358 (1862). 



Shell large, thick, and solid, oliliqiiely ovate, or heart-shaped, tu- 

 mid ; exterior a dirty white and chalky ; the beaks are placed far 

 forwards, project- 

 ing nearly to the 

 front of the shell ; 

 they are elevated, 

 and curved so as to 

 make nearly half a 

 turn forwards and 

 inwards ; in front 

 of them is a heart- 

 shaped, rough lu- 

 nule, bounded by 

 ail impressed line ; 

 l)ehind the l)eaks 

 the edge is very 

 broad and obtuse, 

 the ligament large 



and protulierant, with a space around it somewhat excavated, 

 smoother than the rest, and Ixjundcd by an ol)tuse i-idge ; anterior 

 end very short, roimd : jtostei'ior end terminating in a blunt, occa- 

 sionally truncated point; lookhig at the side of the shell as it stands 

 on this point, it is accurately heart-shaped ; surface with concentric 

 grooves and ridges, the ridges being crowded and rising into thin, 

 sharp plates, most conspicuous at the ends ; the central portion is 



