WASHINGTON CLAM. 55 



times living two feet below the surface of the 

 mud. For such a situation it is provided with 

 an enormous siphonal tube through which it 

 pumps water from above. This species is used for 

 food, and a few of them are sufficient for an ex- 

 cellent chowder. The shell is oblong, bulged, 

 rather thin, and gapes widely where the siphons 

 pass. The hinge teeth are small ; the ligament 

 is large, internal, and lodged in a triangular pit. 

 The pallial sinus is very broad and deep, the 

 lower- part of it joining the ventral line. Exter- 

 nally the shell shows only rough lines of growth, 

 and is sometimes covered with an epidermis. It 

 delights in muddy bays, and sometimes grows 

 to a length of ten inches. 



The Bodega Tellen, Tellina Bodegensis, Hinds, 

 Fig. 1, PL XV, is a very pretty sand-loving 

 shell, smooth, thick, and heavy, and is about two 

 inches long. The surface is polished, of a 

 Creamy white color, and marked with fine con- 

 centric lines. The posterior extremity of the 

 shell is narrow, and somewhat bent to one side. 

 The ligament is external, the hinge teeth are *'ery 

 small, but the pallial sinus is long and narrow. 

 Old specimens show a tendency to thicken the 

 shell from the inside. 



Fig. 2, PL XV, represents the little shell so 

 often found in the sand near the Cliff House, 

 named Macoma inconspicua, Br. & Sby. It is 

 a thin, flat, pinkish little shell, about half an 

 inch long. A variety is white and larger. 



Macoma secta, Conr., has a very thin, white, 

 plossy shell, sometimes faintly marked with red. 

 The ligament is short and strong placed just 



