Pvn H,i I'UitlS

228 KELLIIDiE.
who placed it in the Mya family. The Tellimya tenuis
of Brown seems to have been constituted from a specimen
which had lost one of its cardinal or front teeth.
It must have been knocked out after death. Any one
but a conchologist may well
cesses are called
ask why these hinge-pro-
" teeth," seeing that they are not
homologous to the teeth of Vertebrate animals, and
that they are always placed at the back, instead of in
front, of a headless creature. But the word, whether
rightly or wrongly used, has now become " household "
and unchangeable. I hope those out of the scientific
pale will accept this explanation : if they are not satisfied,
the Hudibrastic distich may serve their purpose—
" To them we leave it to expound
That deal in sciences profound."
To the present genus must be referred provisionally
the K. cycladia of Searles Wood, a rare Coralline Crag
shell. To this species I am now inclined to refer a
shell which I found in the Shetlands and named Po-
romya subtrigona. A description and figure of it will
be found in the '
Annals and Magazine of Natural
History/ 3rd series, January 1858, p. 42, pi.
ii. f. 1.
I had then only a single (the left) valve, which I sent
to my friend Mr. Barlee for his inspection;
fortunately the box containing
but un-
it was crushed on
being returned to me through the post, and a few fragments
are all that remain of the original specimen.
Since that time I have fortunately discovered another
(the right) valve in my dredgings on the same ground,
and I have no doubt that more specimens will hereafter
be found. However, I do not at present
consider the
species, or even its generic position, sufficiently established
to warrant its . redescription The cartilage is in-
ternal, and lies on the narrower and smaller side of the