The Tellen Shells. Sunset Shells. Wedge Shells 



The Little Macoma (M. Baliica, Linn.) scarcely larger 

 than one's thumb nail, with rounded outline, somewhat con- 

 stricted posteriorly, is thin and pinkish or white. It is also a 

 Californian species, but occurs abundantly on the whole Atlantic 

 coast, and in Scotland and Norway. It is prolific in muddy 

 and sandy bays, even following the banks of the Hudson River 

 above the city of New York. It is protected by a thin, dingy 

 epidermis. Length, i inch. 



THE WEDGE SHELLS 

 Genus DONAX, Linn. 



Shell wedge-shaped, triangular, ventricose, posterior end 

 abruptly truncated just behind the hinge; anterior end prolonged 

 and rounded; surface finely cancellated, the valve margins meet 

 in fine interlocking teeth; hinge teeth, three in each valve, liga- 

 ment external. Mantle fringed; siphons short, divergent; foot 

 large, elastic, pointed. 



A very distinct genus of small bivalve mollusks inhabiting 

 sandy shores of warm seas. 



The Variable W^edge Shell (D. variahilis, Say) is the pret- 

 tiest and daintiest bivalve to be found in American waters. I 

 have at hand in the original package the first dozen I ever saw, 

 sent me from Florida packed in a skein of Sea Island cotton. 

 They are like gay tropical butterflies, their flat, paired valves 

 spreading like wings, exhibiting a range of colour that justifies 

 the specific name. There are pinks and salmons, pale greens and 

 yellows, lavender and fawn and white. Rays of colour from the 

 beaks are crossed by narrow bands that centre there; the result 

 is a plaid effect of unusual and attractive patterns. Their dimi- 

 nutive size make them seem more like jewels than shells. 



The brightest of them fades when exposed to light. No 

 cabinet specimen can compare with the living jewels that 1 found 

 by thousands in the sand all along the Florida gulf coast. They 

 sprinkled the yellow floor as each wave receded. But before I 

 could pick up half a dozen they had gone. The pointed tongue 

 thrust obliquely out and downward enters the wet sand, lifts the 

 shell, and draws it under cover. 



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