The Tellen Shells Sunset Shells - Wedge Shells - Family Tellinidie

THE TELLEN SHELLS. SUNSET SHELLS - WEDGE SHELLS - FAMILY TELLINIDIE Shell free, compressed, usually equivalve and closed; tex ture translucent, porcellanous; hinge with two cardinal teeth; ligament external, on short end of shell; pallial sinus deep; foot flat, long, extensible; byssus wanting; mantle fringed, wide open in front; gills small, unequal, outer pair sometimes directed toward the hinge line; siphons long, slender, separate. A large family found just below the surface on sandy or muddy shores of all seas; a few in estuaries and rivers. It contains some of the hand somest of bivalve shells.

Genus TELLINA, Linn.

Shell rounded in front, angled and slightly folded posteriorly; hinge nearly central; valves slightly unequal, siphons twice length of shell; their tips not fringed; gills small, outer ones rudimen tary, turned backward. Above three hundred species in all seas; centre of distribution, the Indian Ocean. Tropical species abund ant, brilliantly coloured. One hundred and seventy fossil species.

The Sunset Shell (T. radiata, Linn.) also called the "sunrise shell," has its polished white valves painted with three broad divergent rays of pink, extending from beak topargin, in the same way that widening bands of light, glowing with warm colour, stream from the focus of the rising and the setting sun. There is a tinge of yellow about the hinge. In the curio stores on the Florida coasts, and in the West Indies these beautiful shells may be had for a very small price. If they were less abundant we would have to pay higher prices for them. The living mollusks burrow just below the surface, at low water, and anybody can get them by a little digging. The shells require no polishing, and those of our own digging have this advantage over bought sped 338 The Tellen Shells. Sunset Shells. Wedge Shells mens : they are not faded by being exposed in sunny shop win dows waiting for a buyer.

T. tenera,

Say, has flat, fragile, pellucid white or rosy shells, covered with fine concentric lines of growth. The front is rounded; the posterior end slopes abruptly from the beak, form ing a blunt-pointed extremity. Chief tooth in each valve grooved.

This little mollusk frequents sandy beaches, just below low water mark. Length, to inch.

Habitat.— Nova Scotia to West Indies.

T. tenta,

Say, is a little larger than T. tenera, has a dull white surface, and gapes at the narrow, posterior end.

Habitat.— Massachusetts to South Carolina.

T. alternata,

Say, is a much larger clam, with flat, broad valves, scored with growth lines, every other one obsolete on the posterior area, which is set off by a straight angular ridge extend ing diagonally out from the beak. Colour, yellowish white or rosy. Length, 2 to 3 inches.

Habitat.— North Carolina to West Indies.

T. modesta, Verrill, is pinkish, white, or tinged with yellow, often in bands following the close lines of growth. The surface is polished, and iridescent. The beaks are small and set far back. A sharp angle subtends the flat, posterior area. The teeth of the hinge are strong, two-cleft. Length, I inch.

Habitat.— Puget Sound, New England.

T. polita, Say, is a

shiny little white shell with minute con centric surface wrinkles. The umbones are nearly midway be tween the rounded front and the pointed posterior end of each valve. Length, inch.

Habitat. —North Carolina southward.

T.

iris, Say, is a fragile, iridescent, white shell, with a few rosy rays and circles faintly colouring the valves. The margins are smooth and sharp; above, the surface is wrinkled and cross ridged. Length inch.

Habitat. —North Carolina southward.

The Leaf Tellina (T. foliacea, Linn.) dull brown with scaly pointed posterior surface, is unlike other species. Though from the Moluccas and other remote islands, it is well known to collec tors. Length, 4 to 5 inches.

The Crested Tellina (T. cristata, Recluz) has a solid, tri angular shell, with a pointed ruffle like a cock's notched comb 339 The Tellen Shells. Sunset Shells. Wedge Shells all along the dorsal line. This is a rare white species, described by Reeve, who did not know where it came from.