210 



RHYNCHONELLID^. 



Rhynchonella psittacea. 



Fig. 91. 



Shell sub-triangular, contracted above, the beak produced into a decurved 

 horn ; surface striated, foramen triangular. 



Anomia rostrum psittaci, Chemn. Conch, viii. 106, t. 78, fig. 713. 



Anomia jisitiacea, Gmelin, Sj-st. 3348, No. 41. — Dillwyn, Catal. i. 296. — Wood, In- 

 dex, pi. 11, fig. 27. — TuRT. Conch. Diet. 5, fig. 42-44. 



Tcrebratula ])sittucea, Uesh.\yi;s, Encyc. Mt'tli. Vers. iii. 102, pi. 244, figs. 3, a, b, c. — 

 Lam. An. sans Vert. 2d ed. vii. 333. — Turton, Brit. Biv. 236. — Fleming, Brit. 

 An. 368. — Thompson, Ann. Nat. Hist. xiii. 433 ; Brit. Mar. Conch. 127. — Brown, 

 III. Conch. Gr. Brit. 68, pi. 46, figs. 2-4. — Crouch, Introd. Lam. Conch, pi. 13, 

 fig. 4. — SowERiiY, Genera, fig. 5 ; Thesaur. i. 342, pi 71, figs. 78-80. — Sowkrby 

 (Junior), Conch. Man. fig. 202. — Gould, Inv. of Mass. 141, fig. 91. — Eeeve, Conch. 

 Syst. pi. 126, fig. 5. — Middendorff, Malac. Eoss. part 3, p. 1, t. 11, figs. 11-17. 



IIypot/ii/ri<; psittacea, King, Ann. Nat. Hist, xviii. 238 (1846). — Forres and Hanley, 

 Brit. Moll. ii. 346, pi. 67, figs. 1-3 — Stimpson, Shells of New England, 7. 



Rhynchonella psittacea, Owen, Trans. Zool. Soc. i. 145, pi. 22, figs. 12-14 (animal). — 

 Adams, Genera, ii. 582, pi. 132, figs. 2, 2«, 2 6. — Chenu, Man. de Conch, n. 219, 

 figs. 1126-1128. 



Shell thin and fragile, brownish-black or sea-green, of an inflated, 

 triangular form, one of the valves produced into a long, pointed, and 



strongly curved beak, something like a parrot's 

 Fig. 501. beak ; along this runs a triangular channel, formed 



by the inflected' margins, the third side of which 

 is completed by the tip of the other valve ; the 

 smaller valve is ol)ovate or fan-shaped, about two 



R. psittacea. 



thirds the length of tlie longer valve ; surface 



marked with concentric lines of growth, and with 



numerous, fine, diverging stria3, increasing in 



number as the shell widens. The interior bony 



processes consist of two slender, curved, parallel 



prongs, arising from the base of the teeth of the 



upper valve. Height, one half inch ; length, 



seven twentieths of an inch ; breadth, one fifth 



of an inch. 



I have as yet met with only one specimen of this shell of the 



above dimensions, which was taken from the stomach of a codfish. 



It appears to be everywhere rare, and is probably an inhabitant of 



more northern seas, especially the region of Newfoundland. 



[Deep sea Coral Zone, Northern Coast ( Sfimpson') ; Banks of St. 

 Margaret's Bay ( Willis) ; Dronthcim to North Cajie (dredged in 

 forty to one hundred and fifty fathoms) (^McA)idreiv) ; Russian 



