SOLENID^. 129 



Subfamily S LENIN JE. 



Siphons short and united, foot more or less cylindrical and 

 obtuse. Shell elongated, transverse, truncate at both extremi- 

 ties ; hinge nearly terminal, usually with a single tooth in each 

 valve ; pallial line profoundly sinuated and truncated. 



SoLEN, Linn., HSt. 



Etym. — Razor-shell. 



Syn. — Hypogsea and Hypogaeoderma, Poll. 



Distr. — 37 sp. World-wide, except Arctic seas ; 100 fathoms. 

 Fossil, 40 sp. ? Silur., Carb. — ; United States, Europe. S. 

 vagina, Linn, (cvi, 6). 



Shell very long, subcylindrical, straight, margins parallel, 

 ends gaping ; beaks terminal, or subcentral ; hinge-teeth, one in 

 each valve ; ligament long, external ; anterior muscular impression 

 elongated ; posterior oblong ; pallial line extending beyond the 

 adductors ; sinus short and square. 



Animal with the mantle closed except at the front end, and a 

 minute ventral opening ; siphons short, united, fringed ; palpi 

 broadly triangular ; foot cylindrical, obtuse. 



In this genus the mantle is produced behind into a truncate 

 siphonal sheath which contains the two short siphons which are 

 never extended beyond the shell. The animal has the power of 

 changing the terminal portion of the foot from a tapering point 

 to an obtuse club. By suddenly extending the foot it is enabled 

 to ascend rapidly the deep burrow it forms in the sand. 



The annexed additional account of the Solen is from " British 

 Conchology," by Dr. J. Gwyn Jeffreys : 



" The razor-fishes (or ' spout-fishes,' as they were called by 

 Grew and other naturalists of former days ) usually burrow in 

 the sand at the verge of low-water mark, not perpendicularly, 

 but in a slanting direction at an angle of about 60 degrees. On 

 the retreat of spring-tides, they may be seen nearly half out of 

 their holes, apparently taking in a supply of oxygen for their 

 gills. They are evidently sensible of vibratory movements in 

 the air, as well as on ground, taking alarm at greater or less 

 distances according to the state of the atmosphere and direction 

 of the wind. When the Solen is disturbed it squirts out water 

 in a strong jet ; and having thus compressed the volume of its 

 body, it lengthens and darts out its dibble-shaped foot, and 

 rapidly disappears below the surface to a depth of two or three 

 feet. A Solen-hunt requires considerable alertness ; for if you 

 cannot approach near enough to catch them when partly exposed 

 to view — and this is not easy, their muscular strength being, in 

 proportion to their size, far greater than that of man — and you 

 delve with your hands after them, they will probably beat you 

 in the race. The stake is much more important to them than to 



