from l/te /aland of Malta, 65 



trrtli live, large, and bent: anus small, round, and iniiainar- 

 ginal : interior of the test with a number of pillar-like processes 

 towards the border. All the species of this genus live in the 

 seas of warm latitudes, or are found fossil in the tertiary rocks 

 only. We have six living and twelve fossil species. 



Clypeaster altus, Leske, sp. 



SYN. Echinus e Melita, Scilla, Corp. Mar. pi. 9. figs. 1, 2. 

 Echinanthus altus, Leske, Klein, Echinoderm. apud Leske, No. 48. 



p. 189. pi. 53. fig. 4. 



Echinus altus, Gmelin, Linne by Turton, vol. iv. p. 149. 

 Clypeaster altus, Lamarck, Hist. Nat. des Animaux sans Vertebres, 



2nd ed. torn. iii. p. 290 ; Deslongchamps, Encycl. t. ii. p. 199 ; 



Defrance, Diet. Sc. Nat. t. ix. p. 449 ; Blainville, Man. d'Actin. 



p. 216; Desmoulins, Echinides, no. 7. p. 216; Agassiz and 



Desor, Cat. rais., Ann. Sc. Nat. torn. vii. p. 130 ; Sismonda, 



Ech. Foss. Nizza, p. 46 ; Ech. Foss. Piem. p. 40 ; Grateloup, 



Mem. Foss. Oursiiis de Dax, p. 41. 



Test oblong ; anterior border convex ; lateral borders undulated ; 

 posterior border squarely truncated ; marginal fold more or 

 less thickened ; dorsal surface elevated into a dome shape ; 

 vertex nearly central ; ambulacral areas largely petaloid, their 

 base extending nearly to the margin : base flat ; mouth large 

 and pentagonal, with a deep sulcus extending from the angles 

 to the border, and corresponding to the middle suture of the 

 ambulacral areas : anus small, round, and submarginal : 

 granulations larger and more prominent at the base than on 

 the dorsal surface. 



Description. This beautiful Clypeaster has been so long known, 

 that it seems unnecessary to give any lengthy details of its struc- 

 ture ; although it may be remarked, however, that we are not 

 aware that a detailed description of the species exists. It was 

 first introduced to notice through the figure of Scilla, and the 

 specimens before us belong to the same type as that given in his 

 work. Many of the Maltese varieties of this species, however, 

 are remarkable for their deviation from this typical form ; the 

 dorsal surface in them rises into a campanulate shape, and 

 the circumference becomes almost round. These varieties con- 

 stitute the Clypeaster turritus, Agass., from the Miocene of 

 Dax, and the Clypeaster Agassizii, Sismonda, from beds of the 

 same age near Nice. We have before us a similar conical 

 variety from Malta, belonging to the Museum of the Bristol 

 Institution ; and others, collected by the Marchioness of Hast- 

 ings, are in the Jenny n Street Museum. 



All the specimens in Earl Ducie's cabinet, with one exception, 



