Pvn H,i I'UitlS

238 lucinidjE.
before I can recognize its claim to be admitted into the
British fauna. It is so common a West-Indian shell that
the circumstance of its appearing on any of our shores
(particularly those which are much frequented)
is no
proof of its inhabiting the adjacent sea. Shipwrecks,
ballast, sailors returning home from foreign voyages, or
children playing on the sands, might account for any
exotic shells being found in such places. One thing,
however, ought to be noticed with regard to the spe-
cies in question, viz. that the Tellina Balthica (or soli-
some of the old writers.
dula) was mistaken for it by
After describing that species, Lister gives the following
locality, " In brevibus Lancastriensibus." Linne cites
Lister, and uses the same word " brevibus " (shallows)
coupled with " oceani ff in denoting the habitat of his
T. camaria. Gmelin tried to improve this, and says, as
to the last-named species, u Habitat copiosissima in An-
gliee sinubus et insularum oceani Americani littore."
Da Costa and Donovan followed suit, the former making
a further emendation by altering the name to " Cardium
carneosum." Whether the Tellina camaria of Linne
belongs to the present genus has not yet been satisfactorily
determined.
The Tellina pisiformis of Linne may possibly be Bri-
tish. Montagu described it as Cardium arcuatum, and
in Falmouth Harbour
said that it had been dredged up
with sand for manure. I have a single valve that was
found in Cornish shell-sand. It is a well-known Medi-
terranean species ; and De Gerville records it, by the
name of C. discors, from Querqueville on the coast of
Brittany. Gmelin called it Tellina digitaria, and Lamarck
Lucina digitalis. The is sculpture very different
from that oihoripes divaricatus. In that species the
stride are arched in the line of growth and thence diverge