RED AND YELLOW SUN-EE AM. 
few teeth on the hinge, and are t>blong shells, 
or with lengthened sides :" on which DaCosra 
remarks, *' he miglit have expressed himself 
better, by saying they were broad shells." 
Rumphius, Gauhieri, Menschen, and Linnsus, 
have ail a genus which they call Tellina. 
Daviia, also, has a genus which he denomi- 
nates Tellina ; but he defines them very inac- 
curately, and includes the Solens. Argenville, 
too, is reproached bv Da Cosra, as even rank- 
ing them am.ong the Muscles. 
It is not very often that shells receive names 
so expressive of their appearance, as those 
among which is found the present objedl of 
our- attention. They are called, by the French, 
Rayons du Solcil," or *' Sun-Beams:" an 
appellation obviously derived from their exactly 
representing the rays which the setting sun 
darts through the clouds, enlaiging their di- 
mensions in proportion as thev appear distant 
from the sun. 'i^his cftccfl is still nicre striking 
in tl.e Blue Sun-Beam, where the coerulcan 
firmament is represented, than even in this 
beaiTtiful shell, which is called the Red, or 
the Red and Yellow Sun-Bfam. 
The 
