332 VENERID.E. 



nitidissima. It is not the V. lupmus of Brocchi, nor 

 the V. sinuata of Gmelin, the latter being a reputed in- 

 habitant of the Nicobar Isles. Turton strangely figured 

 V. exoleta for his V. sinuata, in the ' Dithyra ' : his typical 

 specimen of the last-named species is certainly V. exoleta. 

 He evidently confounded the two. 



B. Mantle-tubes nearly united throughout. Shell triangular, 

 slightly impressed with concentric lines ; inside margin 

 plain. K , I7o 



W.ifr. 3. V. CHI'ONB *, Linne. AVerdViW 



P. Chione, Linn. Syst. Nat. p. 1131. Cytherea Chione, F. & H. i. p. 396, 

 pi. xxvii., and (animal) pi. L. f. 8. 



BODY orange-fleshcolour : mantle fringed with a few tenta- 

 cular cirri at the upper part of the anterior side, and scalloped 

 or furbelowed in other parts : tubes rather long, united nearly 

 to their orifices, each of which is surrounded by a circle of 

 cirri ; the tubes are of a deep orange-colour with fleshy stripes, 

 and the tips of the cirri are black : foot very large, thick, and 

 of a dark pinkish-fleshcolour. (Poli.) 



SHELL triangularly oval, convex but not tumid, very solid 

 and opaque, highly polished : sculpture, numerous and irregu- 

 lar but slight concentric lines or striae, besides about a dozen 

 marks of growth : colour reddish -brown, with often a pink 

 tinge, beautifully variegated by rays of a deeper hue and of 

 different widths, which diverge from the beak in the direction 

 of the anterior side, and extend to the outer margins ; these 

 rays are interrupted in the young and become zigzag or ex- 

 hibit lines of intensely coloured spots (bordering the marks of 

 periodical growth) of various tints from fawn colour to bright 

 orange or sea-green ; a younger state has three longitudinal 

 broad white rays, one in the middle, and the others on either 

 side of the beaks : epidermis thick, resembling a coat of var- 

 nish, covered with close-set longitudinal striae, which are 

 arranged in 'series corresponding with the concentric lines of 

 the shell ; its surface is wrinkled very minutely, like that of 

 morocco-leather : margins rounded on the anterior side, whence 

 they slope obliquely to the front, which is also rounded ; poste- 



* A mythological name in Ovid. 



