SOLECURTUS. 7 



close-set oblique striae, which appear to be impressed by the 

 persistent epidermis : colour chalky- white : epidermis yellow- 

 ish-brown, wrinkled at the sides and composed partly of 

 delicate fibres, which are obliquely arranged : margins and all 

 other characters as in S. candidus, except that the hinge-plate 

 is not so much reflected, the principal or larger cardinal teeth 

 are jagged at their crowns, and the pallial sinus is broader 

 and not so long. L. 1. B. 2-25. 



HABITAT : Sand in 4 to 50 f., on all our coasts, al- 

 though sparingly. Fossil in the raised sea-bed at Belfast 

 (Grainger), and in the Coralline Crag, as well as the 

 Italian upper tertiaries. Bohuslan appears to be its 

 most northern limit, and the Canary Isles the most 

 southern. It also inhabits the intermediate district 

 and both sides of the Mediterranean, the Adriatic, and 

 ^Egean, at various depths ranging from 4 to 40 f. 



" We have seen it break up its tubes voluntarily into 

 fragments, in the manner of the Mediterranean Sole- 

 cur tus strigilatus" (F. & H.). Clark says that the 

 animal, when in confinement, exserts the belly of the 

 mantle, inflated by water, beyond the margin of the 

 shell ; but the instant it is irritated, it can place every 

 organ a I'abri. The shell differs from that of S. can- 

 didus in being flatter and wanting the divaricating strise 

 or ridges. 



The Solen coarctatus of Gmelin (from a figure in 

 Chemnitz) is described as inhabiting the Nicobar Isles, 

 and does not appear to be the present species. Our 

 shell is the S. cultellus of Pennant, but not of Linne. 



I do not believe that Siliquaria bidens, Chemnitz, is 

 a native of our seas, the only testimony in favour of it 

 being that of Pulteney, Boys, Laskey, and Turton. It 

 is the Solen fragilis of tbe three first-named authorities, 

 and Psammobia taeniata of the last, as well as the Solen 

 divisus of Spengler. The locality given by Chemnitz is 



