130 SOLENID^. 



3^ou, and it calls for all their energies. Fishermen entice them 

 out of their • holes by a pinch of salt, making (as they say) 

 the razior-fish believe that the tide is coming in. Reaumur, 

 however, considers that the salt irritates them, and causes a 

 painful pricking sensation in the mantle, which induces them to 

 rise to the surface and endeavor to get rid of the annoyance by 

 expelling the salt backwards. He also noticed the blind instinct 

 which the Solen has when taken out of its hole, and held between 

 the fingers in the open air, suspended vertically : it protrudes its 

 foot several times in succession, as if it were in the act of bur- 

 rowing into its native sands. The account given by Poll of 

 Solen-fishing in Naples is curious. We know that the flow and 

 ebb of the tide there are very slight, and different from what 

 takes place on our own British shores. He tells us that the 

 lurking-place of the Solen is betrayed by a hole in the sand, 

 agreeing in shape with the apertures of its tubes or siphons. 

 Where the water is shallow the fisherman sprinkles some oil on 

 the surface, in order to see these marks more clearly. He then 

 steadies himself by leaning on a staff with his left hand, and 

 feels for the Solen with his naked right foot. This he catches 

 and holds between his big toe and the next ; but although his 

 toes are protected by linen bands, the struggles of the Solen to 

 escape are so violent, and the edges of the shell so sharp, that 

 very often a severe wound is inflicted by it. When the sea is 

 five or six feet deep, another mode of fishing is adopted. It 

 consists in the fisherman diving or swimming under water with 

 his eyes open, and, after having found the holes, digging with 

 his hands for the razor-fish. Sometimes the Solen so forcibly 

 resists being taken, that it will suffer its own foot to be torn 

 away, or will even die rather than surrender. Their power of 

 locomotion is not limited to burrowing ; they can dart from 

 place to place in the water as quickly as a scollop, and apparently 

 in the same way." 



SOLENA, Brown, 1Y56.- (Hypogella, Gray. Plectosolen, Conr.) 

 Shell rounded at each extremity ; hinge nearly terminal ; ante- 

 rior muscular impression rounded. Scarcely distinguishable 

 from the typical group. 3 sp. Cuba, Philippines, Panama. S. 

 ohliqua^ Spengler (cvi, 7). 



Ensis, Schumacher, 1817. 



Syn. — Ensatella, Swains., 1840. 



Distr. — 14 sp. U. S., Europe, Patagonia, Philippines, Aus- 

 tralia. E. ensis, Linn, (cvi, 8 . iJ. siliqua, Linn, (cvi, 9). 



Shell elongated, transverse, gaping and rounded-truncate at 

 its extremities, straight or somewhat curved ; hinge composed 

 of two teeth in one valve and three in the other ; anterior mus- 

 cular impression elongated, horizontal ; pallial impression with 

 a short truncated sinus ; siphons short, divided. 



