Shell tubular, symmetrical, curved, open at each end, attenuated pos-teriorly; surface smooth or longitudinally striated; aperture circular, not constricted. The tooth-shells are animal-feeders, devouring foraminifera and minute bivalves; they are found in sand, or mud, in which they usually bury themselves.
TYPE. Dentalium elephantinum Linnaeus.

Diagnosis. Shell curved, tapering, longitudinally sculptured; apex with or without small notch, slit or plug and pipe. Type species. Dentalium elephantinum Linnaeus, 1758; by subsequent designation, Montfort, 1810: 23.
Dentalium s.s.: Longitudinal ribs strong and less than 20 in number at the apex; interstices usually smooth, sometimes developing fine longitudinal striae or riblets.

West Indies, Norway, Britain, Mediterranean, India, east and west coast of America. Fossil : Devonian .... Europe, Chile, North America.