429 



DESCRIPTION OF A NEW GENUS, AUHTROSAREPTA, 



AND NOTES ON OTHER MOLLUSCA FROM 



NEW SOUTH WALES. 



By Charles Hedley, F.L.S. 



Before discussing the following new genus, a brief glance may- 

 be taken at the literar}' history of kindred forms. 



Writing from on board the vessel on which he served as naval 

 surgeon, Dr. Arthur Adams drew up the diagnosis of a remarkable 

 little bivalve which had just been dredged in 63 fathoms in the 

 Straits of Korea by H.M.S. Acheon. In conclusion he remarked 

 (Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. [3] v. April, 1860, p. 303) that the novelty, 

 Sarepta speciosa, "agrees with Nucula iw the simple pallial line 

 and internal ligament, and with Malletia in not being nacreous 

 or pearly within, and in general form and character. It belongs 

 to a distinct subfamily between Nuculina? and Malletina?." The 

 type has unfortunately never been figured. 



From great depths in the Central Pacific the Challenge^' took a 

 second species of Sarepta, described and figured by Smith (Chall. 

 Reports, Zool. xiii. p. 244, PL xx. ff. 6, 6a, 66) as ,S'. ahyssicola. 

 No other species appear to be recorded. 



Last year Dall defined (Wagner Free Inst. Sci. Trans, iii. p. 

 583) the subfamily Sareptinae, indicated by Adams, in the follow- 

 ing terms :^"Nuculacea with a more or less developed external 

 ligament in addition to a sunken internal resilium, a short hinge 

 plate, a simple pallial line, and a porcellanous shell. The species 

 •are usually small and rounded, smooth or concentrically striated 

 •externally, not rostrate, and without crenulations on the margins 

 of the valves." 



Under this heading Dall groups Sarepta, Glomus and Micro- 

 yoldia. 



