Pvn H,i I'UitlS

30 ANOMIID.E.
tioned the modern use of the word. Poli proposed the
name of Echion for the animal of the present genus.
According to Dr. Carpenter the outer layer of the shell
has a prismatic cellular structure ; and in this respect
it appears to resemble the shell of Argiope. There is
no visible trace of an epidermis. The plug of attachment
is secreted by that part of the adductor muscle
which passes through the lower valve. It is not shelly.
The fry are fixed in the same way as the adult, soon
after their exclusion from the ovary ; although
it would
appear that they enjoy in the mean time a short period
of liberty, like their relative the oyster. The Anomiat
are popularly designated in this country " silver- shells."
In the State of New York they are called " Jingle-
shells." Dr. Otto Torell informs me that no species
has been found north of Iceland; but fossil shells are
not uncommon at Uddevalla in the same bed which
contains Terebratella Spitzbergensis, Piliscus commodiis,
and other forms of an extremely arctic kind.
1. Anomia ephip'pium % Linne.
A. Ephippium, Linn. Syst. Nat. p. 1150 ; F. & H. ii. p. 325, pi. It. f. 2, 3,
5, 7, and (animal) pi. T. f. 2.
Body somewhat depressed, red, yellow, brown, or of all intermediate
shades of those colours : mantle circular : cirri or
tentacular filaments arranged in two or three rows, ciliated or
feathered, yellowish -white : mouth large, with a pair of longdelicate
lips on each side : foot short, cylindrical, and white,
sometimes curved and protruded from a slit in the shell above
the orifice, for the purpose of spinning a byssus and affording
an additional means of attachment.
Shell round, oval, oblong, cylindrical, angular, or even
amorphous, compressed, and sometimes flattened, of different
degrees of thickness according to age, outside of a dull appearance,
although the inner layers are remarkably glossy and
* A horse-cloth.