John ShaqiResearch Library

Opening the text

The Conchologist's First Book: A System of Testaceous Malacology, Arranged Expressly for the Use of Schools, in Which the Animals, According to Cuvier, Are Given With the Shells, a Great Number of New Species Added, and the Whole Brought Up, as Accurately as Possible, to the Present Condition of the Science.Poe, Edgar Allan

Science

The Conchologist's First Book: A System of Testaceous Malacology, Arranged Expressly for the Use of Schools, in Which the Animals, According to Cuvier, Are Given With the Shells, a Great Number of New Species Added, and the Whole Brought Up, as Accurately as Possible, to the Present Condition of the Science.

Name: The Conchologist's First Book: A System of Testaceous Malacology, Arranged Expressly for the Use of Schools, in Which the Animals, According to Cuvier, Are Given With the Shells, a Great Number of New Species Added, and the Whole Brought Up, as Accurately as Possible, to the Present Condition of the Science.
Author: Poe, Edgar Allan

Poe, Edgar Allan

Mollusks

_Shell._ Subnacreous, irregular, subequivalve, inequilateral, generally
much auriculated anteriorly, and prolonged posteriorly into the body, so
as to present some resemblance to a hammer; summits entirely anterior;
between them and the inferior auricle, an oblique slope for the passage
of the byssus; hinge linear, very long, buccal, toothless; ligament
simple, triangular, inserted in a conical oblique pit, partly external;
a moderately large subcentral muscular impression. Inhabits the
Australian seas. Six species.

 Malleus normalis.
 M. vulgaris.
 M. albus.
 M. vulsellatus.
 M. anatinus.
 M. decurtatus.


                      4. Genus _Avicula_. Pl. IX.

_Animal._ Body much compressed; mantle cleft throughout its
circumference, except along the back, and garnished at its free edge
with a double row of very short tentacular cirri; foot small,
canaliculated; a byssus; mouth surrounded with fringed lips, besides two
pair of labial appendages, a large contractile muscle, nearly posterior.

_Shell._ Foliaceous or not; always nacred, subequivalve, of a subregular
form, but somewhat variable; valves oblique, the left one with a little
notch, through which the byssus passes; hinge linear, toothless, or with
two small rudimentary teeth; ligament more or less exterior, placed in a
narrow groove; one very large posterior muscular impression and one very
small anterior. Inhabits the British and American coasts. Nineteen
species.

 Avicula nudata.
 A. macroptera.
 A. semi-sagitta.
 A. falcata.
 A. Tarentina.
 A. squamulosa.
 A. Costellata.
 A. lotaria.
 A. heteroptera.
 A. crocea.
 A. Atlantica.
 A. papilionacea.
 A. physoides.
 A. virens.
 A. trigonata.
 A. phalænacea.

        ·       ·       ·       ·       ·

 A. hirundo.*
 A. pallida.*
 A. nebulosa.*


                     5. Genus _Meleagrina_. Pl. IX.

_Animal._ As above.

_Shell._ Subequivalve, rounded, squamous, a sinus posteriorly for the
passage of the byssus, at which place the left valve is notched and
narrow; hinge linear and destitute of teeth; ligament marginal,
elongated, partly exterior, and dilated in the centre. Inhabits the
Indian Ocean. Two species, of which the first is the pearl-oyster.

 Meleagrina margaritifera.
 M. albina.


                             FAMILY XVIII.

                        PECTINEA. Seven genera.


                       1. Genus _Pedum_. Pl. IX.

_Animal._ Unknown, but probably byssiferous.

_Shell._ Subtriangular, inequilateral, inequivalve, with rounded
summits, freely marked, unequal and distant: the right valve inflated,
widened at its inferior and posterior edge, sloped anteriorly, and
subauriculated, the left not being so; hinge toothless, anterior or
buccal; ligament inserted in an oblique cavity prolonged outwardly to
the summits, and carried within into a spoon-like cavity. Inhabits the
Indian Ocean. One species.

 Pedum spondyloideum.


                        2. Genus _Lima_. Pl. IX.

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.