from the Island of Malta. 121 



the tertiary rocks. A few are found in the upper stages of the 

 cretaceous series. 



Echinolampas Kleinii, Goldf. 



Syn. Clypeaster Kleinii, Goldfuss, Petrefact. Germanise, tab. 42. 



fig. 5. p. 133. 

 Echinolampas Kleiniiy Desmouhns, Etudes des Echinides, p. 346. . 



no. 14 ; Agassiz and Desor, Cat. raisonne, Ann. So. Nat. 



torn. vii. p. 166. 



Test ovato-orbieular in the outhne, with the posterior border 

 slightly produced ; dorsal surface convex, posterior half more 

 elevated than the anterior ; ambulacral areas unequal, usually 

 on a level with the general surface, but sometimes more 

 convex and prominent than the rest of the test ; apical disc 

 excentral and anterior ; base concave ; mouth excentral and 

 anterior; anus inframarginal ; both mouth and anus trans- 

 versely oblong. 



Dimensions. — Antero-posterior diameter 2-^^ inches, trans- 

 verse diameter 2^^ inches, height \-^q inch. 



Description. — This Urchin has been well figured by Goldfuss, 

 and is a very characteristic fossU of the Miocene tertiary beds 

 of Westphalia, where it appears to be common. The specimen 

 before us is the only one we know from Malta. The circum- 

 ference is nearly ovato-orbicular, slightly inclining to an obsolete 

 pentagon, with the posterior border most produced. The dorsal 

 surface is highly convex, the posterior half being much more so 

 than the anterior. The ambulacral areas are unequal, as regards 

 length, width and development ; the single anterior area is the 

 shortest and narrowest, the antero- laterals are next in size, and 

 the postero-laterals are the most fully developed ; they have all 

 a lanceolate form, with blunt apices. The surface of the areas 

 is on a level with that of the interambulacra, in the specimen 

 before us ; but in some of the Westphalian Urchins the ambu- 

 lacral areas form convex projections on the surface of the test. 

 The poriferous avenues, extending down more than two-thirds of 

 the dorsal surface, are well marked in our specimen, and lie in 

 depressions of the test ; they consist of two series of pores ; the 

 internal holes are round, the external run into oblique slits that 

 have a direction upwards and inwards ; the pores on the right 

 and left sides of the areas do not always correspond in length ; 

 thus, the anterior pores in the antero-lateral areas are often only 

 half as long as those on the posterior side of the same areas, 

 and we see a similar inequality, although not to the same 

 extent, in those of the single ambulacrum. The anterior and 

 posterior pair of the interambulacral areas are much alike in 



