TELLINA. TELLEX. 
174 
numerous thick raised thread-like concentric striae, the in¬ 
terstices of which are very minutely striate longitudinally, 
observable only by the help of a glass ; the older shells a 
little flexuous and angular at the anterior end, £ss <sf to 
vtog a lessee emese; to* to otoa*: color yellowish, with 
often faint red longitudinal rays j inside polished, some¬ 
times radiate with red, and marked with obscure longitu¬ 
dinal lines, a strong rib running down obliquely from the 
hinge on the anterior side half way to the margin: beaks 
pointed, not quite central : hinge with two teeth in the 
flatter valve, one of them cloven, and one of the lateral 
teeth very minute 5 in the deeper valve the primary teeth 
are the same, with two distinct lateral ones : length an inch 
and a quarter; breadth sometimes two and a half. 
A dozen of these shells dredged up in the most perfect 
state, both English and Irish, are now before us, all of 
them marked more or less with the minute longitudinal 
lines, but not uniformly on all parts of the shell; in the 
younger shells these fine lines often extend over the surface' 
of the ridges : in all of them we likewise observe the fur¬ 
row on the inside of the heaks, running from the inner side 
of the posterior lateral tooth ; and also the depressed line, 
hut not punctured on the inside and parallel with the mar¬ 
gin. We therefpre suspect that the next species, T. reti¬ 
culata, which Montagu describes from a specimen sent 
him by Mr. Raekett, is nothing more than a perfect and 
closely examined specimen of this shell: and we are tlfc 
more inclined to this opinion, as the outline of this species is 
subject to very considerable variation. We however give 
the description of what has been supposed to be the T. re¬ 
ticulata, in the words of Montagu himself, v. v. 
18. Tellina reticulata. Reticulated TcUen. 
Linn. Trans* viii. pi. 1. f. 9 —Woody pi. 42. f. 2, 3— 
Dorset Cat. pi. 5. f. 4. 
if T. with a suborbicular, subdiaplianou 3 shell, beset with 
numerous fine, regular, elevated, concentric ridges; the 
interstices or furrows crossed with minute stria?, scarce 
discernible but by the help of a glass : umbo small, pro¬ 
minent, placed nearly central, and turns a little to one 
Side : hinge with two small central teeth, and broad lami¬ 
nated 
