OF THE UNITED STATES. 27$ 



TELLINA, Lin. 

 Species. 



1. T. *alternata. Shell compressed, oblong, nar- 

 rowed and angulated before, white ; numerous paral- 

 lel, equal, equidistant, impressed concentric lines, 

 which on the anterior margin are alternately obsolete; 

 interstitial spaces flat ; within tinged with yellow, a 

 callous line, which is sometimes obsolete, passes 

 from behind the hinge to the inner margin of the 

 posterior cicatrix, and another from before the hinge 

 to the inner margin of the anterior cicatrix ; anterior 

 hinge tooth emarginate; posterior lamellar tooth very 

 near the cardinal teeth, so as to appear like a primary 

 tooth, that of the right valve wanting ; anterior 

 lamellar tooth at the extremity of the ligament ; an- 

 terior hinge slope declining in a somewhat concave 

 line to an obliquely truncated tip. 



Length one inch aud one-fourth. 



Width two inches and one-fifth. 



Thickness two-fifths of an inch. 



Inhabits the coast of Georgia and East Florida. 



Cabinet of the Academy and Philadelphia Mu- 

 seum. 



Rather a common shell, beautifully and very re- 

 gularly striated. When cast upon the beach, one of 

 the valves is very commonly perforated near the 

 hinge; this operation, it would seem, is most fre- 

 quently performed upon the left valve, as, of ten 



