114 DENTALIlDiE. 



shell. He arms himself with a long spear, the shaft made ol 

 light deal, to the end of which is fastened a strip of wood placed 

 transversely, but driven full of teeth made of bone, resembling 

 exactly a long comb with the teeth very wide apart. A squaw 

 sits in the stern of the canoe, and paddles it slowly along, whilst 

 the Indian with the spear stands in the bow. He now stabs the 

 comb-like instrument into the sand at the bottom of the water, 

 and after giving two or three such stabs draws it up to look at it ; 

 if he has been successful perhaps four or five Dentalia have been 

 impaled on the teeth of the spear.' At one period, perhaps a 

 remote one in the history of the inland tribes of Indians, Den- 

 talia were worn as ornaments ; these are found in old graves, 

 quite 1000 miles from the sea, mixed with stone beads and small 

 bits of nacre of the Haliotis, of an irregular shape, but with a 

 small hole drilled through each piece." — Jeffreys, Brit. Conch. 



D. ergasticum., a monster species, dredged by the " Travail- 

 leur," is nearl}^ four inches (9 cm.) long. 



ANTALE, Aldrov. (Pyrgopolon, Montfort. Entalium, Defrance. 

 Pharetriurn, Konig.) Shell tubular, much prolonged, smooth, 

 the posterior end with entire margin, the internal tube slightly 

 projecting, and usually with a roundish opening. D. Tarentmuvi, 

 Lam. Europe. 



ENTALis, Gray, 1840. (Antalis H. and A. Ad., ex parte.) Shell 

 tube-like, slightly curved, longitudinally ribbed or sometimes 

 striated, gradually tapering towards the posterior end, which 

 has the margin on the ventral or convex side provided with a 

 short and broad fissure. Type, D. entalis, Linn. D. Delesserti, 

 Chenu (ciii, i). The posterior end is usually longitudinally 

 striated even when these striae or ribbings ibecome obsolete 

 towards the aperture. The supplementary or embryonal pro- 

 jecting tube is not always present, being frequently lost. 



PUSTIARIA, Stoliczka, 1868. Shell tubular, thin, usually slightly 

 curved, smooth, posterior end with a long, linear slit on or near 

 the ventral side. D. eburneum, Lam. 



SuBFi^MiLY SIPHONODENTALIIN^. 



Posterior aperture of the shell entire or with several notches, 

 and without supplementary tube. Foot elongated, worm-like, 

 provided at the tip with a circular disk, the edges of which are 

 beset with papillae ; edge of the lateral plates of the i-adula dis- 

 tinctly tridentate. (Order Siphonopoda, Sars.) 



The shells resemble the Dentaliinffi, but as the}^ appear usuallj^ 

 to inhabit deep waters they always consist of a thin substance ; 

 the posterior end is generally less pointed and more widely 

 opened. 



