62 



HABITS OF LINGULA. 



thickness also vary a great deal ; in some specimens the ratios agree 

 with the figures of L. ematina given hy Blochmann, while in others 

 with that of L. murphiana. In all cases the ventral valve is a little 

 thicker than the dorsal. The largest specimen I have examined is 45 

 mm. in length, '20 mm. in breadth and 10 mm. in thickness. Of the 

 specimens from Misaki the largest measures 80.5 mm. in length and 

 L6.5 mm. in breadth. 



As far as I have been able to ascertain, Lingula occurs only along 

 the coast of southern Japan, but in that part one may expect to find it in 

 every suitable mud-flat. It is not found in deep water at all. In some 

 localities it occurs in a great abundance. At Yanagawa, a village by 

 the Ariake bay, Kyushu, Lingula is so plentiful that it is sold by the 

 peck and forms an article of diet. In this region the whole animal is 

 boiled and eaten. At Akura, Bizen, it is said that the peduncle only is 

 used for food. In the vicinity of Misaki Lingula was formerly so 

 abundant that we were frequently able to secure hundred or more 

 specimens in a few hours' collecting, but of late years the number 

 seems to have dwindled, owing no doubt to too great a demand made by 

 naturalists on the supply. Still, in the neighborhood of the Station every 

 mud flat yields specimens of Lingula. Such flats are exposed at low 

 water and are covered at high water to the depth of 3-4 feet ; of these 

 the most favorable for Lìngula are composed of sandy mud, blackened 

 and ill-smelling from the decomposition of organic matter. Over such 

 black mud a layer of somewhat dirty brown mud 2-3 mm. thick is 

 found which is probably formed by the excrements of Annelids, Lingula^ 

 etc. The flats of clean sand, do not seem fit for the animal. Also 

 the flats* in which Lingula lives are covered neither by Phanerogams 

 nor by Algae, different from the habitat of Lingula at Numea, New 

 Caledonia, as described by François ('91) which is covered by marine 

 Phanerogams. 



* Only one flat, where a few individuals live is covered, as an exception, by Zostera 

 nanu. 



