Pvn H,i I'UitlS

212 KELLIID.E.
and somewhat thickened margin, sometimes marked with faint
lines which radiate from the beak : scars remarkably distinct,
the muscular impression on the anterior side being larger and
much longer than the other. L. 0-2. B. 0-3.
Var. oblonga. Shell narrower, and having the front and
dorsal margins nearly straight. M. oblonga, Turt. Conch.
Dith. p. 61, tab. 11. f. 11, 12.
Habitat : Muddy
ground, from 7 to 85 fathoms, on
all our coasts. It is, however, a local species, and is
seldom found in a perfect state. The variety is not un-
common, and occurs with the typical form, as well as
with intermediate gradations. Grainger has recorded
this shell from the Belfast deposit, and Searles Wood
from the Coralline Crag. Loven and Malm have de-
scribed it as Swedish, the latter giving a depth
fathoms ;
of 18-50
Recluz found a single valve in the stomach of
a turbot on the French side of the English Channel ;
Lamarck mentions Cherbourg as the locality for his
Amphidesma purpar asc ens, which is probably our species
; and I noticed it in M. Martin's collection of
shells from the Gulf of Lyons.
Professor Loven published, in the '
Proceedings *
the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences for 1848, some
important information as to the production and development
of the fry of this species (as well as of M. biden-
for March
tata) and in the ; c
'
Annals of Natural History
1850 (2nd ser. v. p. 210) is contained an excellent paper
by Mr. Alder on the same subject, and also with respect
to the habits of the adult. My description of the ani~
mal is taken from Mr. Alder's notes. He mentions that
the specimen which he observed was taken from " the
stomach of a haddock— a very unpromising locality cer-
tainly for meeting with anything in a living state ; but
the little creature on being placed in sea-water appeared
quite lively, and not visibly the worse for the uncom-
of