PLATE CXXXV. 



Area. Parva alba cancellata. Lactea. Da Costa Brit. Conch. 



p. ni. sp. 14. 

 Arca crinita. Soland. Miis. Portland. 



Pultney. Nat. Hist. Dorsets. 



There does certainly exist among conchologists a strange dis- 

 cordance of opinion, respecting the species of Arca before us : some 

 believing it to be the very shell which Linnaeus described under the 

 name of lactea^ and others maintaining the contrary. Dr. Solander, 

 and Dr. Pultney, were persuaded that Linnaeus intended a shell in 

 SCme particulars not inilike this, but specifically different : the same 

 shell in fact which Lister figures No. 67, in his Conchology. The 

 opinions of two such respectable naturalists dcvServe every considera- 

 tion, but however we may be disposed to abide by their authority in 

 some instances, we cannot, for the following reasons, assent to it in 

 the present. 



Dr. Pultney premises his description by naming this species Arca 

 crinita, a name which it appears Dr. Solander had previously given 

 to it, in his catalogue of the Portland Museum : he observes very 

 justly, that it is the A. barbata of Pennant, but not the barbata of 

 Linnceus : refers to Da Costa's figure, Plate 1 1, fig. 5 ; and calls it 

 in English the IL^iry Ark-shEll. His description is in tliese 

 words, " A small oblong subrhomboidal shell : in its recent state 

 covered with a brown epidermis. Underneath the shell is minutely 

 striated in the longitudinal direction ; commonly not much larger 

 than a horse-bean. 1 found one on the North shore at Poole, more 

 than half an inch long, and seven-eights wide. It is said to be 

 more frequent on the shores of Guernsey island ; but is very rare on 



