MUSEUM OF COMPAKATIVE ZOOLOGY. 289 



Fine and very large specimens of this species have been dredged by the Fish 

 Commission in the Gull' of Mexico. 



An account of the soft parts will be found under the discussion of the generic 

 characters. 



Verticordia "Woodii Smith. 



Venicordia Woodii Smith, Chall. Rep. Lam., p. 168, pi. xxv. figs. 7-7 b, 1885. 



A fragment, probably belonging to this species, was dredged in 100 fms. at 

 Barbados by the " Hassler " in 1871. 



Verticordia perversa Dall. 



Shell translucent, thin, small, very much the shape of Area pednnculoides, 

 but wuth the beaks turned toward the larger end, equivalve, inequilateral, 

 waxen white ; surface covered "with excessively minute shining elongated 

 granules radiating from the beaks in single series with equal interspaces; there 

 are also between twenty-five and thirty radiating lines, on which extraneous 

 matter, especially sand grains, seems to stick, though I can perceive no epi- 

 dermis or special formation which should induce the sand to stick on these 

 lines and not between them; there are no ribs under them. All these lines 

 curve forward with an even sweep ; if we consider the hinge-line as horizontal 

 the anterior margin will be nearly vertical, and their junction evenly rounded, 

 with no trilobate appearance in the general outline; the highest part of the 

 shell is anterior; from the rounded anterior basal edge the posterior basal edge 

 rises at an angle of 45°, or so, toward the rounded junction with the hinge- 

 margin ; the beaks are rather low, the area about them is full but not inflated; 

 there are no keels on the shell; the lunule is small but indented, and its inner 

 edge in the right valve is convex and fits into a concavity in the opposite valve; 

 behind it in the right valve is a short but stout squarish tooth, on the other 

 side of which is the ossicle longer than wide, and indented behind ; there are 

 no teeth in the left valve ; the interior is polished, the granules showing 

 through the shell. Max. Ion. 5.0; max. alt. 5.0; diam. 3.0 mm. 



Habitat. Dredged by the U. S. Fish Commission steamer "Albatross" at 

 Station 2678, oflf Cape Fear, North Carolina, in 731 fms., bottom temperature 

 38°. 7 F. 



This little shell is remarkable for having its height and maximum diameter 

 thrown forward, as in Lyonsiella gemma Yerrill, but even more so, without 

 being lobed as are several species in which a similar tendency is indicated but 

 not carried out; it is so rounded withal that it looks like a short Modiola with 

 the beaks turned the wrong way. I have seen no other species which resembles 

 it at all. 



VOL. III. — NO. 6. 19 



