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442 Av]erican Seasbells
2 to 4 inches in length, elongate-oval, fairly strong; the low beaks are
nearer the anterior end. Sculpture of strong, irregular, concentric growth
lines. Periostracum brownish gray, fairly thin and irregularly wrinkled.
Exterior shell dirty-white or cream, and may have faint, narrow, radial rays
of purple. Common offshore to 25 fathoms. Commonly washed ashore after
storms, especially between Sea Beach and Huntington Beach, Cahfornia.
The subgenus Gobraeus Leach 1852 is a later name for Fsammocola.
Suborder ADAPEDONTA
Superjaviily SOLENACEA
Family SOLENIDAE
Genus Siliqua Miihlfeld i 1
Shell commonly 6 inches in length, oval, compressed laterally; with a
rather strais^ht, raised, internal rib ventrally directed. Hinq-e like Ensis.
Siliqiia costata Sav Atlantic Razor Clam
Gulf of St. Lawrence to New Jersey.
1
Plare ^of
2 to 2/4 inches in length, ovate-elongate, compressed, fragile, smooth
and with a shiny, green periostracum. Interior glossy, purplish white, with
a strong, white, raised rib running down from the hinge to the middle of the
anterior end. Very common on shallow-water sand-flats along the New
England coast.
Siliqiia squama Blainville found offshore from Newfoundland to Cape
Cod is larger, thicker, white internally, and its internal, supporting rib slanting
posteriorly instead of anteriorly as in costata. Uncommon.
Siliqua hicida Conrad Transparent Razor Clam
Bolinas Bay, California, to Lower California.
I to I H inches in length. Very thin, fragile and translucent. A4oder-
ately elongate. Shell whitish tan, with broad, indistinct, radial rays of darker
tan or rosy purplish. Periostracum thin, ohve-green and varnish-like. Mod-
erately common in sand at low tide to 25 fathoms. This species can be
distinguished from the young of S. patula by its narrower and higher internal
rib which crosses the shell at right-angles, and in being more arcuate on its
ventral margin.
Siliqua patula Dixon
Alaska to Monterey, California.
Pacific Razor Clam
Plate 29y