December, 1843.] 325 



arranged, and lamelliform on the sides; lunule cordate, elongated, defined by a 

 deeply impressed line ; posterior side subcuneiforrn, extremity obtusely rounded 

 or subtruncated ; cardinal plate broad: muscular impressions large; margin 

 strongly crenulated. Length, seven inches. 



V.permagna, Foss. of Tert. Formations, p. 9. 



Locality. Neuse river, below Newbern, North Carolina. Miocene ? 



This is perhaps the largest Venus known : it is remarkably rough and pon- 

 derous. In outline it approaches V. Rileyi, but it is greatly more ponderous 

 and ventricose. The usual size is about four and a half inches in length. 



Artemis. 



Artemis elegans. Lentiform, regularly convex, with strongly marked rather 

 distant impressed concentric lines ; on the posterior side these are closely ar- 

 ranged and profound, forming prominent recurved lines, which become acute or 

 lamelliform towards the posterior margin; posterior hinge margin elongated, 

 slightly convex, oblique; lunule cordate, deeply impressed. Height, two and a 

 half inches; length, two inches and seven-eighths. 



A. elegans. Fossils of Tertiary Formations, p. 30. 



Locality. Neuse river, below Newbern, North Carolina. Miocene. 



This beautiful shell is allied to A. concentrica, but is readily distinguished by 

 its stronger remoter stria, by its convexity of disk, and its more robust anterior 

 cardinal teeth ; the posterior teeth are less oblique, forming a wider space be- 

 tween them and the anterior teeth. The posterior hinge margin is not so elong- 

 ated, in proportion, as in the concentrica. 



I found this and the kindred species recent on Mullet Key, at the entrance 

 of Tampa Bay, and, fortunately, specimens of the young of both, which show a 

 marked difference in specific character. 



Loripes. 



Loripes elevata. Suborbicular, elevated, thin, ventricose, smooth, not oblique; 

 beaks medial; hinge margins very oblique ; posterior margin truncated, direct, 

 very regularly rounded towards the base ; anterior basal margin obliquely trun- 

 cated ; cardinal plate thin, arched, with an elongated channel anteriorly ; cardi- 

 nal teeth profoundly diverging. Length, nine-sixteenths of an inch ; height, 

 the same. 



Locality. Neuse river, below Newbern, North Carolina. Miocene 1 ? 



Proportionally more elevated than Loripes americana (Mysia,) thinner, not 

 oblique like that species, and very distinct. 



Solex. 



1. Soien directus. Linear, straight, except towards the summit, where it 

 is slightly recurved, gradually widening from the hinge downwards ; basal mar- 

 gin rounded slightly towards the posterior extremity ; anterior margin obliquely 

 truncated, not reflected ; cardinal teeth, one in the "right valve, compressed, in 

 the opposite valve, two, the superior one very small and near the extremity, the 

 other somewhat distant, elevated, robust, slightly recurved. Length, four 

 inches. 



Locality. Neuse river, below Newbern, North Carolina. Miocene 1 



