156 BIVALVES. 



that great dexterity is requisite to catch them, 

 before they again sink into their retreat, and if 

 they are successful in escaping, they are not 

 easily tempted again to the surface. In many 

 places this animal is valued as food. The name 

 Solen, is derived from the Greek a-uXvjv (solen) 

 a tube. The French, in allusion to the shape 

 of the shells, call them manches de couteaux. 



Several species of Solen are common on the 

 coasts of Britain. 



SOLEN Siliqua* 



POD RAZOR SHELL. 



Specific Character. Shell straight, subcylin- 

 drical, truncated at one end, and slightly roun- 

 ded at the other ; hinge lateral, with a single 

 tooth in one valve, and a lateral rib locking 

 between two teeth in the other, which has also a 

 rib ; outside covered with an olive brown skin 

 striated transversely, each stria afterwards taking 

 a longitudinal direction ; beneath the epider- 

 mis the shell is greyish white with purplish 

 streaks; length about one inch, breadth from 

 one open end to the other, seven or eight inches. 



This shell is common on most of our sandy 

 shores; it is found buried a foot or more in 

 depth near low water. In the neighbourhood of 

 Belfast, specimens of this shell are found more 

 than ten inches in length. 



* Plate VII. fig. 4. 



