34 CATECHISM OF CONCHOLOGY. 



beaks, and no prominent lips. The form of the 

 shells differs considerably, and no genus, per- 

 haps, contains two species so dissimilar in out- 

 ward appearance as Chama cor and Chama gigas : 

 still they are linked together by the Linnsean 

 bond of relationship, the hinge, to the peculia- 

 rities of which your attention must be particu- 

 larly directed. 



Q. Is not the Chama gigas a very large shell ? 



A. The largest in the order of Testacea. A 

 manuscript in the library of the late Sir Joseph 

 Banks notices a shell of this description, pre- 

 served at Arrio's Vale, Ireland, the total weight 

 of which amounts to 507 pounds. A shell of 

 the same species forms the baptismal font at the 

 church of St. Sulpice, at Paris, and was pre- 

 sented by the Venetians to Francis the First.* 



* Conchologist's Companion, 



