download pdf

SANGUINOLARllDAE 441
obscure) running across the center of the valve just anterior to the 2 small,
projecting cardinal teeth. Color of shell whitish purple, covered externally
with a very thin, chestnut-brown, glossy periostracum. A common shallow-
water species.
Tagehis subteres Conrad Purplish Pacific Tagelus
Santa Barbara, California, to Lower California.
Plate 29s
I to 2 inches in length, subcylindrical, slightly arcuate with the dorsal
margins sloping down from the beaks. Color pale purple inside and out.
Periostracum yellowish brown and finely wrinkled. Moderately common in
shallow water in sandy mud.
Tagehis politiis Carpenter from Central America does not slope down
from the beaks so strongly, is a thinner shell and much more darkly colored
with violet.
Genus Meterodonax Morch 1853
Shell less than i inch in length, resembling a strong, oval Tellina. Two
cardinals and two lateral teeth in each valve, the laterals usually not very
distinct. Pallial sinus extends % the length of the shell.
Heterodonax bimaculatus Linne Small False Donax
Plate 3oh
South half of Florida and the West Indies. Southern Cahfornia to
Panama.
% to I inch in length, oval, with a truncate anterior end and moderately
inflated. Exterior smoothish, with numerous fine growth lines. 2 cardinals
in each valve. Anterior to the beaks (which point forward), the hinge is
thick for a short distance, then followed by a thinner, concave portion. Color
variable: white with 2 oblong crimson spots inside; violet with radial streaks;
pink, yellow or mauve; some are speckled with black or brown. This is a
common species found with Donax on the slopes of sandy beaches. H. pacificiis
Conrad is a synonym.
Genus Gari Schumacher 18 17
Shell fairly large, elongate-oval, beaks near the center; hinge thick and
with 2 small, bifid teeth just under the beak. Alias Psainmobia Lam. 18 18.
Subgenus Fsamvtocola Blainville 1824
Gari californica Conrad Californian Sunset Clam
Aleutians to off San Diego, California. Japan.
Plate 2911