8 SOLENID.E. 



the Nicobar Isles. De Gerville included it in his list 

 from Brittany under the name of Solen pellucidus ; and 

 I was informed by M. Cailliaud that it had been taken 

 alive on that coast. Gould considered that it might be 

 the Solen centralis of Say, a common North- American 

 species ; but this is very doubtful. 



Solen gibbus, Spengler, was recorded by Dr. Turton as 

 British, under the name of S. declivis, Mrs. Loseombe 

 being supposed to have found a specimen in the Scilly 

 Isles. It is a West-Indian shell, and known as S. GUI- 

 neensis, Chemnitz, and S. caribbaus, Lamarck. This 

 species is likewise described by Gould as North- 

 American. 



Genus II. CE'RATISO'LEN *, Forbes. PL I. f. 2. 



BODY oblong, flattened : mantle slightly projecting above and 

 below on the anterior side : tubes for the most part separated, 

 and considerably extended : foot conical, and capable of being 

 expanded into a club -like form. 



SHELL resembling a bean-pod in shape, thin, nearly equi- 

 lateral, sculptured in the middle with extremely fine striae, 

 which radiate from the beaks : hinge strengthened inside by a 

 short rib, which diverges obliquely from the beak in each valve 

 towards the front margin : teeth, one cardinal in the right, and 

 two in the left valve, besides short but distinct laterals : 

 pattial scar broad, with a shallow fold. 



Ceratisolen is a connecting link between Solecurtus 

 and Solen. Its shell has the shape and nearly central 

 beaks of the former, and the texture and teeth of the 

 latter; but it differs from both in the hinge being 

 strengthened by internal cross ribs. The animal has 

 its mantle-tubes separate and extended as in Solecurtus. 

 No other species appears to be known except our own, 



* A pod-shaped Solen. 



