« Animal with a completely closed coat, which has only a narrow frontal aperture through which the small, pointed foot, sometimes carrying a byssus, passes; at the back the coat is divided along its entire lenght in two siphons. Shell equivalve, without hinge, without ligament, without spatulate extension inside under the summit; the animal is usually in a chalky tube. » – S. Clessin: “Die Familie Gastrochaenidae”, Systematisches Conchylien-Cabinet Bd.11:Abt.4a, Nürnberg 1895, p.1.
 

« Still the ovate, curved form and the sculpture of the shell, and the peculiar, artichoke-like or bulbous structure of the enclosing capsule, made up of successive calcareous cups involving bits of shell and sand, together with the proportions of the animal will, I think, authorize a generic distinction. I would propose, In that case, the name Cucurbitula, which at once expresses the cup-like elements and general gourd-like form. » – A. A. Gould: “Descriptions of shells collected by the North Pacific Exploring Expedition (continued)”, Proceedings of the Boston Society of Natural History vol.8, Boston 1861-1862, p.22.
 

« Shell regular, equivalve; valves ovate or cuneiform, widely gaping anteriorly, very unequilateral; umbones anterior, ligament long and narrow; pallial line lightly impressed, sinuated, uniting the muscular impressions; tube claviform or irregular, often incomplete, perforating shells and limestone, to which its walls are sometimes adherent. » – G. W. Tryon: American marine conchology, Philadelphia 1873, p.128.