430 MACTRIDJE. 



coasts of Northumberland and Galway. L. elliptica is 

 fossil in all our upper tertiaries from the Scotch glacial 

 beds to the Coralline Crag ; Subapennine strata (Broc- 

 chi); neighbourhood of Bordeaux (Lamarck); Sicily 

 (Philippi). It is also recent in Finmark (Lilljeborg); 

 Bergen (Sars); north of France (De Gerville and Bou- 

 chard- Chantereaux) ; shores of Spain and Portugal 

 (M f Andrew); Algeria (Weinkauff); Sicily (Maravigna 

 and Philippi). 



Our earliest conchologist, Lister, discovered this spe- 

 cies. It is edible in spite of its muddy habitation ; for 

 we are told by Mr. M 'Andrew that it is sold in Vigo 

 market; and Mr. Dennis says, "the Herm people eat 

 every kind of shell-fish which is big enough ; even Lu- 

 traria elliptica and L. oblong a ' Clumps' as they call 

 them." The following observations by Montagu may be 

 useful to those who are so devoted to conchology as not 

 to object to turning mudlarks : " It is rarely obtained 

 alive, except by digging, and that only when the tide is 

 unusually low : their place of concealment is generally 

 known by a dimple on the surface, through which they 

 eject water to a considerable height, though the shell is 

 frequently buried two feet beneath." The shell is occa- 

 sionally distorted, and varies in the proportion of length 

 to breadth. 



It is the Mactra lutraria of Linne, Chama magna of 

 Da Costa, and L. vulgaris of Fleming. 



^W 2. L. OBLON'GA^Chemnitz^fch) IV I U 



My a oblonga. Chemn. Conch.-Cab. vi. p. 27, t. 2. f. 12. L. oblonga, F. &H. 

 i.p.374,pl.xiii. f.l. 



BODY pale yellow : mantle closed to the same extent as in 

 the last species : tubes of unequal size ; the alimentary (or 



* Oblong. 



