108 



SoLEN, Lin. 



The shell only bivalve, oblong or elongated, but the hinge always 

 furnished with salient and well marked teeth, and the ligament ex- 

 ternal. In the 



Sol EN, Cuv., 



Or the Solens properly so called, the shell is cylindrically elon- 

 gated, and has two or three teeth in each valve near the anterior 

 extremity, where the foot issufes, The latter is conical, and enables 

 the animal to bury itself in the sand, which it excavates with con- 

 siderable rapidity on the approach of danger. 



Several species are found along the coast of France *. 



We might distinguish those species in which the teeth approxi- 

 mate to the middle; some of them still have a long and narrow 

 shell t- 



In others it is wider and shorter; their foot is extremely thick. 

 Two of the latter inhabit the Mediterranean +. In 



Sanguinolaria, Lam., 



The hinge is nearly the same as in the wide Solens, and has two 

 teeth in the middle of each valve ; but the two latter, whicli are oval, 

 are much closer at the two extremities, where they merely gape, like 

 certain Mactreeg. 



PsAMMOBiA, Lam. 



The Psammobiae differs from the Sanguinolariae, in having but a 

 single tooth in the middle of one valve, which penetrates between 

 two on the opposite one.|| 



PsAMMOTHEA, Lam. 



But a single tooth to each valve ; otherwise resembling the Psam- 

 mobi.Te^. 



Pholas, Lin. 



Tlie Pholades have two broad valves, convex towards the moutli, 



* Solen vagina, Chemn., YI, iv, 26^ — 28 ; — S. siliqua, lb., 29 ; — S. ensis, lb., 30; 

 — S. inaximus, lb., v, 35 ; — S. cultelhs, lb., 37. 



f Solcn legumen, Chemn., YI, v, 32, 34. 



+ Solen strigilatus, Chemn., VI, vi, 41, 43 ;— S. radiaim. Id., v, 38—40; — S. 

 minimus, lb., 31 ; — S. coarcfatus, vi, 45 ; — S. vesperfimts. Id., vii, 60. These two 

 divisions have become the genus Sclecurte of M. de Blainville. 



§ Solen sanguinolentus, Chemn., VI, vii, 56 ; — S. roseus, lb., 55. 



II Tellini gan, L., Poli, 15, 23; — Solen vesperlinus, Chemn., VI, 7, 59; — 

 Psammobia maculosa, Lam., Egypt., Coq. pi. 8, f. 1 ; — Psamm. clongata, Lam., 

 Egypt., pi. 8, f. 2. 



% Psummotheu violacea. Lam., &c. 



N. n. These two genera are united in one by M. de Blainville, called Psammocola. 

 On the whole, they differ but very slightly from the .Sanguinolariw. Great care is 

 requisite in st^idying the shell, as the teeth are generally broken. 



