TESTACKA. 77 



SOLKN SIUQOA Razor MeU.Tl&te XVIII. 



With a view to studying the living creature, I had, on the 19th <: 

 July 1844, seven specimens brought to me ; and, with considerable sur- 

 prise, therefore, I found it* nature and organization entirely different 

 from what, owing to some erroneous figures, I had supposed. 



The whole product is about five inches long, consisting of a bivalve 

 shell, slightly arched at each end, opening down the whole front, the 

 valves being connected behind. A transverse section would be an invgu- 

 Ur ellipse, broader behind than before. The shell is of twofold forma- 

 tion, divided an it were into two long triangles, of darker and lighter 

 surfaces. The former, being the back part, exhibits the accessions con- 

 spicuously by tiMnmm edges. 



The animal inhabiting this shell is almost identical with that of the 

 Photos dactylus. A. broad shoulder projects above, with two promi- 

 nences, having a larger and a smaller orifice. The former, the larger, is 

 guarded by a double fringe, and forming the edge of the margin : the 

 other environing its external base. The edge of the smaller or excretory 

 orifice is smooth ; but its external base is fringed. The portion of the 

 flesh where the orifices are situated, and the orifices themselves, an; dark 

 from speckling, exactly as in the 1'lnJa*. 



A long, very active, thick, obtusely pointed foot protrude* from the 

 opposite extremity of the shell, as if searching or penetrating downwards. 



Colour of the shell grey and dingy yellowish, of the animal white. 



Water is squirted as from the Phalat, whence, perhaps, the vernacu- 

 lar name Spout fish. 



Dwells in the sand. 



The animal seems to consist of a long white fleshy body, like the 

 finger, extending at least two inches, which is closed in by the shell as it 

 shuts. The whole shell seems lined with a fleshy investing substance, 

 forming a wide arch about the middle, wherein the body hangs down. 

 It is close upwards, and the shoulder with the orifices is invested by it 

 above. 



