164 SOLEN. RAZOR-SHELL. 



12. Solen diclivis. Sloping Razor-shell Fig. 80. 

 Lister, pi. 421. p. 265. 



Shell oblong, thin, semitransparent, white with a mix-* 

 ture of reddish white towards the ends, covered with a 

 dark brown skin, irregularly striate or wrinkled trans- 

 versely, rounded and of nearly equal diameter at both ends, 

 considerably declining from the beaks on both sides to- 

 wards the back margin, but more so at the cartilage end 

 where there is a slight indenture under the beak: the front 

 margin quite straight and even : beaks nearly central, 

 small, pointed ; inside white polished : teeth strong, two 

 in each valve, one of them concave, and in one valve one 

 of them is much divaricated ; under the cartilage is also a 

 strong prominent gibbosity extending beyond the margin : 

 length three-quarters of an inch ; breadth two inches. 



Two specimens of this species, so eminently distinct 

 from all which have been previously described, both in the 

 slopes, teeth, and perfectly straight front margin, we ob- 

 served in the cabinet of Mrs. W. C. Loscombe of Exmouth, 

 who obligingly favored us with one of them : they were 

 found in Scilly. v. m. 



Lister's figure is an excellent one, which Gmelin has 

 quoted for S. Cultellusjbut it is so very unlike the figures 

 which Mr. Wood has given of that shell, that both himself 

 and Mr. Dillwyn have omitted it. 



13. Solen squamosus. Scale Razor-shell. 

 Montagu, p. 565. 



Shell nearly orbicular, very flat thin and transparent, 

 white, most minutely punctured all over, with a few con- 

 centric ridges especially about the margin ; inside smooth 

 glossy white, with obscure striae radiating from the hinge, 

 and rather more opake at the margin: beaks small, pointed, 

 central, not inclining to either side : teeth two, erect, di- 

 verging each side, extending beyond the margin, a depres- 

 sion or furrow on the margin dividing each tooth into two 

 plates almost to the beak where they are united and form 

 an acute angle : length four lines ; breadth half an inch. 



One valve only of this singular shell was found by Mon- 

 tagu, in Salcombe bay, who observes that it was as clear 

 and pellucid as the Bulla aperta, and resembled a fish scale. 



STROMBUS. 



