Pvn H,i I'UitlS

324 VENERID.E.
has dredged it in Manger fiord on the coast of Finmark ;
but it appears on the whole to be a southern form,
ranging from Vigo along the Lusitanian shores eastward
to the Mediterranean and iEgean, and westward
to Madeira and the Canaries, at depths between 4 and
95 fathoms.
It bears the following names, besides those given by
Montagu :
Venus pumila, Lamarck, V. Cyrilli, Scacchi,
Cytherea apicalis, Philippi, Cytherea minuta, Brown,
and probably Venus [Cytherea) occitanica, Recluz.
*** Mantle open in front, and forming at the posterior side
two more or less elongated tubes.
Family XIII. VENE'RID^E, Leach.
Body nearly orbicular, oval, oblong, or globose : tubes produced,
cylindrical :
gills unequal : foot tongue-shaped and
large, adapted for burrowing in gravel, sand,
or mud.
Shell equivalve, triangular, rhomboidal, or globular ; variously
sculptured, or almost smooth: beaks incurved, and
turned towards the anterior side : ligament external, placed on
the larger side of the shell : hinge strong,
furnished with three
or four cardinal teeth in each valve (one genus having two only
in the left valve), some of which are cloven or double, and an
obscure and ridge-like lateral tooth on the posterior side :
pailial scar deeply
sinuous : muscular scars oval and distinct.
The deep sinuation of the pailial scar will always
serve to distinguish the Veneridce from any of the im-
mediately preceding
families. It denotes also a cor-
responding difference in the structure of the animal, the
siphonai tubes being extensile and issuing from a sheath
or fold of the mantle in this family, instead of sessile
or short as in the other families. The form of the
shell in the typical genus Venus is similar to those of
Cyprina and Circe : but the lateral teeth are less distinct,