hen-clam
[f. hen n. 6 + clam.]
The name given on the Atlantic coast of North America to two large species of clam, Mactra (or Spisula) so lidissima and M. ovalis. On the Pacific coast, the name is transferred to Pachyderma crassatelloides.
| 1884–5 J. S. Kingsley Stand. Nat. Hist. I. 278 Mactra solidissima and the closely allied M. ovalis are known along our northern coasts as hen-clam, sea-clam, and surf-clam. |