VENUS. 



135 



Venus notata. 



Fig. .52. 



Shell ovate-orbicular, inequipartite, posterior end truncated ; surftice with con- 

 centric sharp ridges, mosth' wanting on the disk ; color yellowish or grayish- 

 white, and with tawn-colored zigzag markings; interior wholly white. 



Venus notnta, Say, Journ. Acad. Nat. Se. ii. 271 (1822); Binney's reprint, 94.— 

 Gould, Inv. Mass. 1st cd. 87. — Philippi, Abbild. (Venus) 128, ])]. 2, Ii-. ;!. — De 

 Kay, Nat. Hist. New York, 218, pi. 27, fig. 278. 



Venus mcrcenaria, var. Sowerijy, Tlies. 7.33, pi. 162, fig. 206. — Reeve, Conch. Icon. 

 ( Veuus) pi. 2, fig. 4 a. 



Mercenaria notata, Deshayes, Br. Mas. Cat. Biv. Shells, 114 (1853). 



Venus obliqua, Antox, Wicgm. Archiv. 1837, and V. Ctjprinoides, Axton, Verzeicli. (fide 

 Philippi). 



Venus prceparca. Say, Journ. Ac. Nat. Sc. ii. 271 (1822) ; Binney's reprint, 9.5. — De Kay, 

 Nat. Hist. New York, 219. — IIaxley ( T'. notata, var.), Descr. Cat. 1 17 ; in Wood's 

 Suppl. pi. 13, fig. 41. — Deshayes [Mercenaria notata), Cat. Br. Mus. (Biv.) 115. 



Shell very similar to the preceding, and perhaps merely a local 

 variety. The diifereiices 



Fig. 446. 



which I shall mention 

 appear, however, to be 

 constant. The shell is 

 less heavy and coarse. 

 The hinge slope declines 

 less ra])idly, so that the 

 posterior side is broader, 

 and its extremity broad- 

 ly truncated ; the area 

 abont the ligament is 

 much more smooth, and 

 usually colored brown or 

 purplish. The concen- 

 tric ridges are more reg- 

 ular in their distances, are somewhat undulated, and frequently are 

 lost in each other ; on the centre of the shell the ridges seem to 



a round, thick shell-fish, or, to speak more properly, worm. It does not bury itself luit a 

 little way in the sand; is generally found lying on it, in deep water; and is gathered u]) 

 by rakes made for the purpose. After the tide ebbs away, a few are picked up on the 

 shore below high-water mark. The quahaug is not much inferior in relish to the oyster, 

 but is less digestible. It is not eaten raw ; but is cooked in vai-ious modes, being roasted 

 in the shell, or opened and boiled, fried, or made into soups and pics. About half an 

 inch of the inside of the shell is of a purple color. This the Inilians broke ofi" and con- 

 verted into l)eads, named by them siicknuhock, or black money ; which was twice the value 

 of their trompoin, or white money, made of the mefauhock, or periwinkle [Pijrula). 



" Poqudhock, corrupted into qitahnuf] or quanlwg. is the word with a jdural termina- 

 tion." —///.story o/" 0/-/ea«s, in Collections of Mass. Hist. Society, VIII. 192 (1802). 



Y. notata. 



