THE * CONCHOLOGISTS’ - EXCHANGE. . 35 
authors, 2. e. since 8865, use this name for our 
species. 
A full scientific description of the animal was 
given in Silliman’s Journal, p. 287, in April, 
1872. ‘The shell is six inches long by one inch 
in height, covered with a glossy yellowish- 
green epidermis; hinge at one end. A very 
common shell in R. I. called long clam, razor 
fish, &c,, and is considered by some people very 
delicious eating. They live in the sand, where 
they burrow from two to three feet deep. They 
come tothe surface sometimes, but it is difficult 
to obtain one; if we take hold of a specimen 
and attempt to draw it up out of the sand (they 
stand on their heads, as we might say if they 
had any, with only an inch or two of the pos- 
terior portion of the shell projecting above the 
surface of the sand) it slips through our fingers 
and descends to the bottom of its burrow with 
astonishing rapidity. ‘The best way to obtain 
them is to look at extreme low-water mark, 
where their presence is indicated by an orifice 
resembling a key-hole, and then dig for them 
lively with a clam hoe. 
I think some disease must have affected this 
species at one time, in our bay, several years 
ago, for at low tide might have been seen one 
Summer, thousands of specimens in every di- 
rection on our sandy shores, projectiug two or 
ihree inches out of the sand; all these speci- 
mens were either destitute of an inhabitant, or 
the animal was dead and half devoured by 
Starfish or Ilyanassa obsoleta, our common 
cannibal snail. I noticed this more particularly 
near Buttonwoods, where I gathered about a 
half a peck of these shells in as good condition 
as though they had been taken alive. 
SUB-FAMILY PHARELLIN. 
Shell transverse, elongated, gaping and 
rounded at each end; umbones szzb-central. 
Siphons of the animal /ovg separated for half 
their length. ‘There are eight genera, three of 
which are fossil. Three genera are represented 
in New Eng. each by a single species. 
GENUS SILIQUA, MUHLFELDT, 1811. 
Shell smooth, oblong; epidermis polished : 
an umbonal rib extends across the interior of 
each valve. There are twenty species of this 
- genus. 
Siligua costata, Say. 
T45. 
Syns: 
Solen costatus, Say, Valence. Solen Sayii, 
Griffith. Solen Nahantensis, Des Moulins. 
Solecurtus costatus, Gld., DeKay, Stimp.  Sili- 
qua costata, Tryon, Dall. 
Shell, smooth, oblong, thin and fragile, 
rounded at both ends; beaks very small, placed 
at the anterior fourth ; epidermis shining, light 
yellowish-green, crossed by three lighter colored 
broad rays ; interior livid. showing the exterior 
bands; in each valve is a broad white rib extend- 
ing from the beaks, two-thirds across the shell, 
Length two inches, height eight-tenths. Inhabits 
from Cape Hatteras to the Gulf of St. Lawrence. 
It has not yet been found in R. I. to my knowl- 
edge, although Gould says “ it is found abun- 
dantly on every sandy beach and_ probably 
inhabits the sand in shallow water.’ It is com- 
mon in Massachusetts Bay, and is frequently 
taken from the maws of cod-fish. 
GENUS SOLECURTUS, BLAINVILLE, 
1824 
These shells are sometimes called short 
razors, as the shells are like a Solen cut off or 
shortened, while the animal is as long as a 
Solen. The beaks are nearer the centre, and 
the shell is wider and more flattened. 
146.— Solecurtus gibbus, Spengler, 1794. 
Syns : 
Solen gibbus, Spengl. 
Lam., Hanley. Solecurtus Caribzeus Con., 
Gld., DeKay, Woodward. — Siliquaria gibbus, 
Adams, Tryon, Tagelus Dombeyi, Chenu. 
Tagelus gibbus, Dall. 
Solen Caribzeus, 
Shell oblong, transverse, slightly curved, thick 
and strong, posterior end rounded, anterior 
truncated ; the surface covered (when not worn 
off) with a strong dark-colored epidermis. 
Length four inches, height one and a half, 
breadth one inch. Inhabits from Cape Cod _ to 
