Pvn H,i I'UitlS

352 veneridjE.
circled with reddish-brown spots, the surface of the tubes
being frequently marked in the same way. Loven considers
it the V. literata of the '
Fauna Suecica/ but not
of the '
System a Naturae/ Gmelin and Lamarck made
each three species out of the present. It is the V. ne-
bulosa of Solander and Pulteney, and Capsa deflorata of
Leach.
2. T. virgi'neus *, Linne.
Venus virginea, Linn. Syst. Nat. p. 1136 (according to modern authors).
Tapes virginea, F. & H. i. p. 388, pi. xxv. f. 4, 6.
Body pale yellowish-white or cream-colour : mantle having
its edges dentate on the anterior side, sinuous in front, and
scalloped on the posterior side, with a few short yellow filaments
at each end: tubes united for three-fourths of their
length, and separate for the other fourth towards their ex-
tremities ;
dish-brown at the bifurcation, and often tipped with purple ;
their colour is delicate pale lemon, tinged with red-
they are of the same size ; the incurrent tube has its orifice
truncate, and fringed with 14 pointed cirri, which are alter-
nately large and small, the former being marked at then bases
on each side with a patch of bistre, and the latter being white ;
the excurrent tube curls upwards as in other species, and, in
consequence of its outer edges being a little inflected, does not
this tube has 16 short white cirri at the ori-
appear truncate ;
fice, which is encircled by a fine reddish-brown line ; the tubes
when extended do not measure more than half the breadth of
the shell :
gills nearly circular, pale drab, hung very obliquely ;
the under pair are at least double the size of the upper, and
are strongly marked across by the vessels of circulation : palps
subtriangular, short, and distinctly striated: liver apparently
small and : pale green foot thick and fleshy, not much bent, but.
flexible and capable of being attenuated to a fine point ;
no byssal groove.
it has
Shell rhomboid-oblong, moderately convex, solid and
flattened ribs as
opaque, polished and rather glossy : sculpture,
in the last species, but they are less regular and often wanting
on the umbonal area and consequently in young specimens ;
there are occasionally a few obscure longitudinal lines, and
* Virgin.