SOLEN. 17 



very short, enclosed in a sheath, speckled with brown, and 

 encircled near the orifices by two rows of irregular cirri : gills 

 narrow, nearly of equal size, and adhering throughout : palps 

 pale brown, thin and delicate, smooth outside and striated 

 within : foot of a dull reddish hue, obliquely sloping at the 

 extremity, which is studded with very minute papillae, and 

 covered with meandering red-brown lines in the interstices : 

 liver brown and granular. 



SHELL resembling in shape a French bean with the ends 

 cut off, of nearly equal diameter, opaque, glossy and partially 

 iridescent : sculpture, slight and irregular striae in the line of 

 growth, set at two different angles ; those in front are parallel 

 with the curve of the shell, while the striae on the dorsal area 

 or diagonal compartment run in an opposite direction : colour 

 yellowish-white, with numerous reddish-brown longitudinal 

 streaks crossing the dorsal area : epidermis membranous, yel- 

 lowish-green, thicker in front than at the back : margins 

 equally curved before and behind, truncated at each side, but 

 more rounded at the anterior end, which is slightly constricted ; 

 dorsal area nearly equal in size to the rest of the shell : leaks 

 inconspicuous, placed close to the anterior side : ligament very 

 long and narrow, yellowish-brown : hinge-line straight : hinge- 

 plate long, strengthened by a rib in each valve to support the 

 ligament, and thickened at the anterior end: teeth, in the 

 right valve an erect and wedge-like cardinal, enclosed in the 

 left by two much stronger and nipper-like cardinals ; late- 

 rals one in either valve, long, rib-like, erect at its extremity, 

 and somewhat bent, that of the left valve overlapping the 

 other : inside nacreous ; edges thin : pallial scar distinct, 

 with a shallow sinus at the posterior end : muscular scars 

 of unequal size ; the anterior linear, posterior oval. L. 0'5. 

 B. 3-75. 



HABITAT : Sandy bays from 3 to 20 f. Fossil in all 

 our tipper tertiaries, as well as in Norway and Italy. 

 Its European distribution in a living state extends from 

 the Faroe Isles (Landt) to Sicily (Maravigna) and the 

 Black Sea (Eichwald) ; Algeria (Deshayes and Wein- 

 kauff) ; Canada and the United States (Bell, Gould, and 

 others) . The range of depth is from 2 to 20 f . in the 

 north, and from 4 to 40 f. in the south of Europe. 



