RED AND YELLOW SUN-BEAM. 
IHIS elegant and very beautiful shell, which 
is figured of the natural size, is a bivalve, and 
belongs to the family of Tellinae, or Tellens. 
The charadleristics of the Teilens, accord- 
ing to Da Costa, are these : the shells are 
more broad than lono^ ; thev are rather fiat : 
and the hinge has tvv^o teeth set close together. 
In this family, there are two genera : viz. 
the Tellinas, properly so called, being shells 
with similar sides, the beak and hinge of which 
are central ; and the Cunei, or shells with 
dissimilar or unequal sides> the beak and hinge 
of which are placed either at one end, or nearly 
so. The species of the first genus, orTellinse, 
in which the present subjefi: is corapreliended, 
are far from being numerous. The rank held 
by these shells, in the writings of systematic 
authors, is as follows : Lister, who defines 
them " shells shaped like wedges," places 
them after the Pinnae ; and AVoodward, who 
makes them a genus, says, that *' they .hrive 
few 
