Venericardia. ] PELECYPODA. 1)09 



short, inconspicuous. Adductor-scars large, oval, subequal. Pallinl 

 line simple. 



Diameter Ant. -post., 5 mm. ; dorso-ventral, 5-5 mm. : thickness, 

 3 mm. 



Hal. Near Cuvier Island, in 38 fathoms (Captain Bollons) ; 

 near Little Barrier Island, in 20 fathoms (R. H. Shakespear) ; Stewart 

 Island (A. Hamilton) ; near the Snares and Bounty Islands, in 50 

 fathoms (Captain Bollons) ; north of Enderby Island, in 85 fathoms 

 (E. R. Waite). Also Mediterranean. 



Genus 3. VERTICIPRONUS, Hedley, 1904. 



Verticipronus, Hedley, Rec. A.M., v, pt. 2, 1904, 88. Type : V. mytilus, 

 Hedley. 



Shell small, higher than long, smooth, capped by a flat prodisso- 

 conch, ligament external, beaks terminal, hinge with a single pro- 

 minent cardinal and 2 posterior teeth in each valve. 



Distribution. New Zealand. 



1. Verticipronus mytilus, Hedley. 1904. Plate 53, figs. 4, a. 



Verticipronus mytilus, Hedley, Rec. A.M., v, pt. 2, 1904, 88, f. 15 in text. 



Shell small, rather solid, mytiliform, equi valve, inequilateral, the 

 anterior side longest, non-nacreous, smooth, polished. Beaks terminal, 

 obliquely truncate, capped by a flat, subtrigonal, radially wrinkled 

 prodissoconch whose edges do not project. Anterior end, high, convex, 

 straight or concave above ; posterior end broadly rounded, subangled 

 at the middle, basal margin convex. Lunule, minute, indistinct. 

 Sculpture consisting of faint growth-hues only ; well-marked periods 

 of rest are often present. Colour russet to fawn ; young shells are 

 sometimes colourless and transparent. Interior brown. Ventral 

 margin smooth. Hinge in each valve under the umbo, a prominent 

 cardinal tooth and deep socket, and at the posterior angle 2 oblique 

 successive lamelliform lateral teeth. Ligament moderately long, ex- 

 ternal. Adductor-scars : The posterior high up, the anterior small, 

 at about half the height of the shell. Pallial line entire. 



Diameter -Ant. -post., 1-6 mm. ; dorso-ventral. 2-3 mm. : thick- 

 ness, 1-4 mm. (type). Ant. -post., 3-5 mm. ; dorso-ventral, 5'3mm. : 

 thickness, 3 mm. (large specimen from the Snares). 



Type in the Australian Museum, Sydney. 



Hab. Whangaroa Harbour (C. Trail!) ; Lyall Bay, type (A. 

 Hamilton) ; Banks and Otago Peninsulas (Iredale) ; Taumaki Island, 

 in 10 fathoms ; Snares and Bounty Islands, in 50 fathoms (Captain 

 Bollons). 



Fam. GONDYLOCARBIIDJE, Bernard. 



Shell minute, related to the Carditidce, but which retain in the adult 

 state the immaturity of hinge characters which characterizes the 

 nepionic shell of Cardita, and, moreover, have the resilium sunken 



