VENUS. 333 



rior side elongated, and somewhat wedge-shaped but likewise 

 rounded ; no decided angularity is shown in any part of the 

 contour : beaks nearly contiguous, recurved ; the umbonal part 

 of the shell is rather protuberant : lunule lance-shaped, de- 

 fined by a distinct furrow, of a deeper colour in immature 

 specimens ; lips slightly prominent : corselet deep, with shelv- 

 ing sides : ligament rather long, thick and strong, horncolour, 

 projecting beyond the corselet: hinge-line rounded: Jiinge- 

 plate thick, broad, and flexuous : teeth, in the right valve three 

 cardinals, that on the anterior side being blunt, and placed 

 obliquely, or nearly at a right angle to the other two, which 

 diverge, like an inverted V; in the left valve are three cardinals, 

 of which the posterior is long, laminar, and nearly parallel 

 with the hinge-line, and the other two are short, close toge- 

 ther, and triangular ; this valve has also on the anterior side a 

 pair of small teeth placed nearly at a right angle to the middle 

 pair, and, with the side tooth in the right valve, probably re- 

 presenting anterior lateral teeth ; the posterior lateral in each 

 valve is long and ridge-like : inside chalky-white, except the 

 scars, which are glossy, large and conspicuous, the pallial scar 

 exhibiting a prismatic lustre ; margin thickened. L. 2-75. B.3. 



HABITAT : Southern and western coasts of England, 

 in sand, at depths of from 12 to 25 fathoms. It is 

 common on the Cornish trawling-grounds. Mr. Lyons 

 told me that he had found it at Milford Haven; Mr. 

 M f Andrew has taken it in Carnarvon Bay; and Mr. 

 Walpole obtained a single valve by dredging off Dalkey 

 in Dublin Bay. It has not been noticed on any part of 

 our northern coasts ; and although Sir Cuthbert Sharp 

 included it in a list of shells from the neighbourhood of 

 Hartlepool, published in his history of that place, Mr. 

 Alder has given satisfactory reasons for believing that 

 it was mistaken for Cyprina Islandica. It is not rare 

 in the Coralline Crag. Not one of the Scandinavian 

 naturalists has mentioned it; but its range south of 

 Great Britain extends from La Manche (De Gerville) 

 to the Lusitanian coast (M'Andrew) and every part of 

 the Mediterranean, and also to the ^Egean (Forbes) and 



