"SHELL-FISH.'* 201 



Then there are the Tellen-shells (Tellind), a bright and 

 delicate-looking group, with shells that appear as though they 

 had been subjected to considerable pressure. They are finely 

 grooved with concentric lines, and decorated with broad bands 

 of pink. One of the most plentiful of these is the Thick Tellen 

 (Jellina crassd), in which the pink bands radiate from the 

 beak across the shell. Thick is a comparative term, and is 

 so used here, for the shell, as compared with a Mactra, for 

 instance, would be considered rather thin ; but in contrast 

 with other Tellens, it is solid and substantial. The interior is 

 delicately tinted with pink or orange. The pallial sinus is 

 large and rounded. The Fragile Tellen ( T. tenuis] has thin 

 shells that are very easily broken. Its surface is very smooth, 

 of an orange tint marked with bands of pink and white. There 

 are half-a-dozen other British species. The Tellens burrow 

 slightly in sandy mud, frequently in shallow water. They 

 may be dug for on a suitable beach between tide-marks, 

 though their range extends to about fifty fathoms. 



Somewhat similar to the Tellens in their delicacy and style 

 of ornament are the Sunset-shells (Psammobia), so called on 

 account of the crimson patch around the beak, from which 

 rays of a similar hue run off to the margin. If the shell 

 is so placed before you that the beak is downwards, these rays 

 suggest the far-reaching rays from the sun that streak all the 

 western sky, when Sol dips below the horizon for the night. 

 There are four British species. The two ends of the shell are 

 nearly equally rounded, but in an allied genus 



The Wedge-shells (Donax}, the hinder end is much more 

 acute than the front, so that their popular name is very suit- 

 able. They have a suggestion of sunset rays, too, but not so 

 strong or so symmetrical as in Psammobia. The most familiar 

 species is the Common Wedge-shell (Donax anatinus], which 

 may easily be distinguished from the others by the milling of 

 the interior edge of the valves. The Polished Wedge (D. 

 politus] may be equally well separated by its superior gloss, 

 and by a white band which runs backward from the beak. 



