Note 59 — Chapter 3 OF THE PLANTING OF MASTER WESTON’S COLONY AT WESSAGUSSET, AND OF SUNDRY EXCURSIONS AFTER CORN.

The razor-shell, (solen,) which very much resembles a bean pod, or the haft of a razor, both in size and shape. See Mass. Hist. Coll. viii. 192. Josselyn calls them “sheath fish, which are very plentiful, a delicate fish, as good as a prawn, covered with a thin shell like the sheath of a knife, and of the color of a muscle.” And Morton says, “razor fishes there are.”

“The animal is cylindrical, and is often used as an article of food under the name of long-clam, razor-fish, knife-handle, &c.” See Dr. Gould’s Report on the Mollusca of Massachusetts, p. 29.