CLASS PELECYPODA 
Family SOLEMYACID^. 
Genus SOLEMYA Lamarck, 1818. 
Shell elongated, cylindrical, gaping at each end; epidermis dark, 
horny, extending beyond the margins; umbones posterior; hinge edentu¬ 
lous; ligament concealed ; pallial line obscure. Outer layer of long pris¬ 
matic cells, nearly parallel with the surface and mingled with dark cells, 
as in Pinna; inner layer also cellular. (Tryon. S. S. Conch.) 
Type. Solemya togata Poli. Mediterranean. 
Distribution. United States, Canaries, West Africa, Mediterranean, 
Australia, New Zealand; burrowing in mud. 
Subgenus Acharax Dali, 1891. 
Solemya johnsoni Dali, 1891. 
Plate 14, fig. 1. 
Proc. U. S. N. M., 14:189 and 17; pi. 25, fig. 1. 
Shell resembling S. macrodactyla Mabille and Rochebrune, from 
Orange Harbor, Tierra del Fuego, but larger, longer in proportion, the 
shorter end more tapering and the opposite end more rounded. Length 
of shell 115, height 48, diameter 18, mm. The cartilage pit is 30 mm. 
behind the shorter end, and the greatest length of the digitate epidermis 
beyond the edge of the shelly valve is 23 mm. (Dali). 
Type in U. S. N. M., No. 106886. Type locality, U. S. steamer 
Albatross station 3010, off the coast of Lower California, in 1005 fathoms. 
Range. Oregon to Panama. 
Solemya agassizii Dali, 1908. 
Plate 40, fig. 11. 
Bull, of Comparative Zoology, 43 :365; pi. 16, fig. 10. 
Shell large, elongated, heavy, chalky, with a strong blackish perio- 
stracum which, except near the middle of the base, is produced into long 
ragged processes beyond the margin of the valve; the surface of the 
valve is radially channelled with wide, deep channels which are reflected 
by prominent ribs on the inner surface of the valves; it is the portion of 
the periostracum which lies in the channels which forms the processes, 
and which covers the interspaces which fails to retain its continuity 
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