tiie 
GREAT CHAM A. 
Generic Character. 
Animal refembling a Tethys. 
Shell bivalve, thick. 
Hinge furniflted with a gibbofe callus obliquely 
inserted into an oblique foffule. 
Specific Character, &c. 
Great whitifh. oblong plaited CHAM A, with 
arched fcales. 
The GREAT CHAMA, or Giant Clamp. 
The fltell reprefented on the plate is not only the 
larged of the genus to which it belongs, but of the 
whole tedaceous tribe, having been fometimes feen 
of the length of more than three feet, with the in¬ 
cluded animal fufficient to afford a meal for upwards 
of an hundred perfons. Thefe large fpecimens how¬ 
ever are by far lefs regular and beautiful than the 
fmaller ones. The color is commonly white, both 
internally and externally ; but, when young, a flight 
tinge of rofe-coior is fometimes vifible. it is a na¬ 
tive of the Indian feas, and is met with on the thores 
of mod of the iflands in the great fouthern or paci¬ 
fic ocean. 
