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200 GLAUcoMYina:.<br />
Suborder CONCH ACE A.<br />
Family GLAUCOMYID^.<br />
Subfamily GLAUCOMYIN^.<br />
Shell transversely elongate, thin, covered with a periostracum ;<br />
hinge bearing three cardinal teeth in each valve ; lateral teeth<br />
absent; ligament external, elongated; pallial line sinuous.<br />
Animal inhabiting either fresh or brackish water; siphons very<br />
long, united ; gills unequal, the external the smaller and appendiculate<br />
; foot small.<br />
Distribution. India ; China ; Malaysia.<br />
Genus TANYSIPHON.<br />
Tanysiphon, Benson, A. M. N. II. ser. 3, i, 1858, p. 408, pi. 12.<br />
TYPE, Tanysiiilion rividis, Benson, from Bengal.<br />
Range. Gangetic Delta.<br />
Original description :—" Testa subinoequivalvis, iuajquilateralis,<br />
transverse oblonga, umbonibus prominentibus obtusis, extremitatibus<br />
(postica maxime) hiantibus, margine superiori subarcuato,<br />
ventrali subrecto. Cicatrix siphoualis elongata ^ longitudinis<br />
testaj invadeos. Yalvse dextrsB denies tres, 1 anterior angustus<br />
prominens intrans, 2 laminares transversi, medianus prominens,<br />
posterior major obtusus; valva; sinistrse dentes duo, anterior<br />
bilobatus, posterior major. Ligamentum duplex, externum<br />
parvum ellipticum, vix convexiusculum, internum lineare foveam<br />
posteriorem occupans, demum laminam cardinalem perpendiculariter<br />
truncans. Epidermis tenuis. Area interior testse nitida,<br />
non margaritacea.<br />
Some of the teeth are apt, in large specimens, to become<br />
obsolete.<br />
Benson makes the following remarks on the animal:—<br />
" The siphons closely resemble those organs in Mya trtmcata,<br />
Linn., Woodward, p. 317, fig. 220. Both are united in a finely<br />
annulated compressed scabbard nearly equalling the length of the<br />
shell. A raphe or seam appears along the inferior margin of the<br />
scabbard. The free extremity is surrounded by tentacula, which<br />
are distant, and of unequal length. The orifices of the siphons<br />
are papillar ; that of the branchial siphon, the larger, is provided<br />
with minute tentacnla, but the orifice of the exhalant siphon is<br />
naked. The small foot is hatchet-shaped, with the posterior<br />
margin notched. Both the siphons and the foot are wholly<br />
retractile, and highly sensitive. The foot is sometimes extended<br />
and tongue-shaped, but generallj' of the outline represented." .
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