Pvn H,i I'UitlS

234 LUCINIDiE.
our southern, south- western, and south-eastern counties,
and in the south and west of Ireland ; Llyn, Carnarvon-
shire (Pennant) ; Scarborough (Bean) ; Seaton, Durham
(Hogg, fide Alder) ;
and Mr. Dawson has dredged
a single valve off Buchan in Aberdeenshire at some
distance from land. In the Channel Isles it lives in the
sand at low tides ; and it is usually found elsewhere at a
depth of only a few fathoms. The locality " Scalloway/'
given in the ( British Mollusca '
on my authority, is
incorrect ; and Mr. M fAndrew informs me that a similar
mistake must have occurred in quoting him as having
taken this species in Zetland. The variety is from
Southampton and Bantry Bay. I am not aware that
this species has ever been found in the north of Europe.
South of Great Britain it is widely distributed through
the Atlantic, Mediterranean, and iEgean seas \ its fur-
thest limit appears to be the Canary Isles.
The shell varies considerably in the degree of globose-
ness, and in the proportions of length and breadth, as
well as in the development of the teeth. Very young
specimens have an oblique contour and are much broader
than long.
Philippi was of opinion that this species is not the
Tellina lactea of Linne, because the latter is described
as " gibba." Believing, moreover, that the present spe-
cies is that which Lamarck designated lactea, he pro-
posed the name of fragHis for Linnets species. Forbes
and Hanley subscribed to Philippics view, but changed
the specific name of our shell to leucoma. I do not
see any necessity for this shifting nomenclature. The
Lucina leucoma of Turton, if we may trust his description
and typical specimens, is scarcely a variety of the
shell commonly called L. lacteus. Lamarck appears not
only to have made two species out of the old one, but