422 MOLLUSC A. 



of its edges; but the tooth of the hinge is better marked than in the 

 preceding genus. Ranges of salient spines are frequently observed 

 on the hind part of the shell. They are found in sand, among Zoo- 

 phytes, Sec. 



The North sea produces a small species(l). 



SoLEN, Lin. 



The shell only bivalve, oblong or elongated, but the hinge always 

 furnished with salient and well marked teeth, and the ligament ex- 

 ternal. In the 



SoLEN, Cuv., 



Or the Solens properly so called, the shell is cylindrically elon- 

 gated, and has two or three teeth in each valve near the anterior 

 extremity, where the foot issues. The latter is conical, and enables 

 the animal to bury itself in the sand, which it excavates with con- 

 siderable rapidity on the approach of danger. 



Several species are found along the coast of France(2). 



We might distinguish those species in which the teeth approxi- 

 mate to the middle; some of them still have a long and narrow 

 shell(3). 



In others it is wider and shorter; their foot is extremely thick. 

 Two of the latter inhabit the Mediterranean(4). In 



Sanguinolaria, Lam., 



The hinge is nearly the same ^s in the wide Solens, and has two 

 teeth in the middle of each valve; but the two latter, which are oval, 

 are much closer at the two extremities, where they merely gape, like 

 certain Mactrae(5). 



PsAMMOBiA, Lam. 

 The Psammobiae differ from the Sanguinolariae, in having but a 



(1) Solen minutus, L., Chemn., VI, vi, 51, 52, or Mya ardica, Fabr., Groenl., 

 which appears to be the same as the Hiut. ci ujie fente, Bosc, Coq. Ilf, xxi, 1; — 

 the Hiat. a deux fentes. Id., lb., 2. 



(2) Solen vagina, Chemn., VI, iv, 26 — 28; — S. silir/ua, lb., 29; — S. ensis, lb., 

 30; — S. maximus, lb., v, 35; — S. cultellus, lb., 57. 



(3) Solen legumen, Chemn., VI, v, 32, 34. 



(4) Solen strigilatus, Chemn., VI, vi, 41, 43; — S. radiatus. Id., v, 38 — 40; — S. 

 mhiimus, lb., 31; — <S'. coarctatus, vi, 45; — S. vespertinus. Id., vii, 60. These two 

 divisions have become tlie genus Solkcuhte ofM. de IJlainville. 



(5) Solen sanguinolentus, Chemn., VI, vii, 56; — S, roseus,* lb., 55. 



