SOLECURTUS.
6
It is the genus Macha of Oken, who described it in
the ^Allgemeine Natm-geschichte ^ for 1835, giving the
Solen strigilatus of Linne as the type. This, however,
was eleven years after De Blainville^s publication of Solecurtus.
Herrraannsen at first cited the date of Oken's
publication as 1815, but corrected the mistake in his
' Supplement;^ he disapproves of the word Solecurtus, as
well as of Solenocurtus and Solenocurtis (emendations
of Sowerby and Swainson), and suggests Cyrtosolen.
But if we proceed in this way to rectify the nomenclature
of Natural Histoiy, few of the modern names would be
recognizable in their new dresses. A centurj^ ago Linne
complained of a deterioration in this respect—one of his
axioms being " Veterum nomina plerumque prsestantissima, recentiorum pejora fuere." I fear that the lapse
of time has not brought with it any improvement. The
present name appears to have been compounded according to a grammatical rule called Syncope, and it has a
precedent in the word lapicida (for lapidicida) used by
Livv and Varro. Leaches name of Azor appeared in
the second edition (1844) of Brown's work on British
and Irish Conchology; it had S. antiquatus for its type.
1. Solecurtus can'didus^, Renier.
Solen candidus, Renier, Tav. Conch. Adriat. p. 1. Solecurtus candidics,
F. & H. i. p. 2G3, pi. XV. f. 1, 2.
Body of a uniform bright orange-yellow colour : mantle
somewhat paler towards the margin : tnhes united at their
bases, where the siphonal mass is large and thick, and separated at their extremities ; orifices fringed : foot pale orange
with a whitish sole.
Shell elliptical, rather convex, but compressed in the middle,
solid, opaque, somewhat glossy : sculpture, 40 to 50 obUque and
imbricated longitudinal strife or shght ribs, of which nearly
* Wliite.
6
It is the genus Macha of Oken, who described it in
the ^Allgemeine Natm-geschichte ^ for 1835, giving the
Solen strigilatus of Linne as the type. This, however,
was eleven years after De Blainville^s publication of Solecurtus.
Herrraannsen at first cited the date of Oken's
publication as 1815, but corrected the mistake in his
' Supplement;^ he disapproves of the word Solecurtus, as
well as of Solenocurtus and Solenocurtis (emendations
of Sowerby and Swainson), and suggests Cyrtosolen.
But if we proceed in this way to rectify the nomenclature
of Natural Histoiy, few of the modern names would be
recognizable in their new dresses. A centurj^ ago Linne
complained of a deterioration in this respect—one of his
axioms being " Veterum nomina plerumque prsestantissima, recentiorum pejora fuere." I fear that the lapse
of time has not brought with it any improvement. The
present name appears to have been compounded according to a grammatical rule called Syncope, and it has a
precedent in the word lapicida (for lapidicida) used by
Livv and Varro. Leaches name of Azor appeared in
the second edition (1844) of Brown's work on British
and Irish Conchology; it had S. antiquatus for its type.
1. Solecurtus can'didus^, Renier.
Solen candidus, Renier, Tav. Conch. Adriat. p. 1. Solecurtus candidics,
F. & H. i. p. 2G3, pi. XV. f. 1, 2.
Body of a uniform bright orange-yellow colour : mantle
somewhat paler towards the margin : tnhes united at their
bases, where the siphonal mass is large and thick, and separated at their extremities ; orifices fringed : foot pale orange
with a whitish sole.
Shell elliptical, rather convex, but compressed in the middle,
solid, opaque, somewhat glossy : sculpture, 40 to 50 obUque and
imbricated longitudinal strife or shght ribs, of which nearly
* Wliite.