42 DENTALIUM-ANTALIS. 



BROWN, Illustr. Conch. G. Brit., p. 117, pi. 56, f. 4, 5. D. politum 

 DE BLAINV., Diet. Sci. Nat., xiii, p. 70 (1819). and again TURTON, 

 ibid., p. 38 (not of Linn.), changed to D. Iceve TURTON, ibid., p. 256. 

 D. striolatum Kisso, Hist. Nat. Eur. Merid., iv, p. 398 (1826). 

 D. multistriatum Kisso, ibid., p. 398 (not of Desh.). D. affine 

 BIONDI, Atti dell'Accad. Gioenia di Sci. Nat. (2), xiv, p. 120, pl. t 

 f. 7 (1859). D. fasdatum GMEL., Syst. Nat. (13), p. 3737. ?Z>. 

 nebulosum GMEL., ibid., p. 3738. 



Allied to D. entalis L., but when unworn it is lusterless, finely 

 striated throughout, not slit or notched posteriorly, and it is more 

 robust. The following forms have received varietal names : elongate 

 Monts., attenuata Monts., decurtata Monts., albina Monts. (uniform 

 white), citrina Monts. (lemon yellow throughout), rosea B. D. & D 

 (rose-carmine throughout). Sacco has a fossil " variety " perstri- 

 olata. 



D. weinkauffi Dkr., of Japan, is a near relative of this species, 

 but that has the apical notch of typical Antalis, while vulgare is like 

 novemcostatum in apical features. 



According to Jeffreys, " The stomach of this Dentalium is a reper- 

 tory of littoral Foraminifera. It is not, like Spatangus or Synapta, 

 an indiscriminate swallower of sand, but a fastidious Pig from the 

 herd of Epicurus, luxuriously picking out the choicest morsels with 

 its extensile and delicate captacula. Adriatic specimens of the shell 

 collected by Professor Stossich are 2i inches in length and very 

 fine." 



Besides the literature cited above, there are very many references 

 in local and faunal works, and a number doubtfully applying to this 

 species or confusing it with D. entalis. Martini, Bonanni, d'Ar- 

 gentville and other early writers have also noticed and figured it. 



D. ENTALIS Linne. PI. 8, figs. 25. 



Shell tapering, not much curved, often irregularly divided into 

 segments by the successive accretions of growth ; it is solid, opaque, 

 and glossy ; sculpture, slight concentric lines of growth, and occa- 

 sionally a few indistinct and extremely fine longitudinal stria? to- 

 wards the narrower end, these strise, when they occur, are not very 

 numerous, and are only visible with the aid of a magnifier ; color 

 ivory-white, with sometimes an ochreous stain on the narrower 

 part, caused by an admixture of mud with the sand in which this 

 species burrows : margin at the anterior or broader end more or less 



