118 The Official Guide to the 
species have very ornamental and _beautifully- 
coloured shells. Passing by many handsome shells, 
Cyprina, Venus, and Cytherea—one species of 
fae datter, -C. maculata, marked in squares like 
a chess-board—we must notice in passing the 
curious boring Mollusc, /etricola hthophaga, some 
specimens of which will be observed zm sztw in the 
hardened clay wherein they had taken up their 
abode. A little further on are the Te1iinipaA, a — 
numerous family of very delicate and beautitul shelis, 
some examples of which may be found in the l:ttozal 
zone of almost every sea in the world. The Taylor 
collection has a beautiful series. The next remarkable 
form is the Soden, or Razor Shell, a common object on 
our sandy shores. They inhabit the low water-line of 
temperate and tropical seas, burrowing into the sand 
in a vertical position, and are said to be excellent 
eating; about twenty-five species are known. The 
Myas, consisting of several genera, have similar habits 
to those of the Solens, but do not possess such > 
remarkable shells, and much the same may be said of 
the Lantern- Shells of the family ANaTINIDs, 
A very remarkable shell is that known as the 
Watering-pot Shell, Asperxgtllum vaginiferum, a long 
white calcareous tube, closed at the lower end and 
very unlike a bivalve in appearance; but a closer 
examination will show the minute valves embedded in 
the lower portion of the shelly tube, which has grown 
as the animal increased in age, leaving the embryo 
valves cemented in its walls. One more family’ 
remains, that of PHoLapip&, containing a number of 
boring animals, which make their home in various 
substances, wood, clay, chalk, or even sandstone. 
Some species are found in abundance in the clay 
and chalk on our own coast, but we can show 
nothing like the giant Californian Polas bisulcata, 
