270 BULLETIN OF THE 



Dominica; Station 36, 84 fms.; Lat. 23° 18', Lon. 89° 10', 84 fms.; off Som- 

 brero, 54-72 fms. ; west of Florida, 50 fms. ; off Sand Key, 80 fms. ; Station 132, 

 in 115 fms., off Santa Cruz; Station 220, in 116 fms., off Santa Lucia; Station 

 154, 164 fms., off Grenada. 



Var. tinctum. Stations 272 and 287, in 7^ to 76 fms., sand and coral, also in 

 100 fms., all near Barbados, and living specimens; also at Station 127, off Fred- 

 rikstadt, Santa Cruz, in 38 fms. 



The U. S. Fish Commission has dredged this species off the New England 

 coast, at Station 861, in 115 fms., and thence southward at many intervening 

 stations to the West Indies, the deepest being off Hatteras, in 124 fms., living. 



This extremely lovely shell seems to live in from 50-125 fms., and in water 

 at a temperature ranging from 40° to 80° Fahrenheit. It is related to and per- 

 haps descended from the Eocene C. Nicoletii Conrad, which attains a vastly 

 greater size. Cardium parile and semiasperum Deshayes, of the Paris Basin, are 

 similar in their general features while differing in detail. The Fulvia modesta 

 of Adams and Reeve, a North Pacific (Japan to California) species is, so far as 

 I can learn, its nearest living relative. 



A more exquisitely beautiful shell than a perfect specimen of the variety 

 tinctum I have never seen ; figures can give no adequate idea of its delicacy, 

 its color, or its elegance. 



The small spines are rarely perfectly preserved and often gone entirely, 

 which makes quite a different-looking shell of it. 



Cardium muricatum LinnI:. 



A few valves of this well-known Antillean species were dredged by Sigsbee 

 in 187 fms., off Havana. 



Cardium laevigatum Linn6. 



Young valves apparently of this species were dredged off Sand Key, in 

 80 fms. ; off Sombrero, in 72 fms. ; and at Station 2, in 805 fms. As with the 

 preceding species, they were probably drifted from shallower water, or dropped 

 by fishes, since the species is known to live at comparatively moderate depths. 



Cardium serratum Linne. 



Cardium serratum Linne', Dall, Bull. M. C. Z., IX. p. 131, 1881. 



Habitat. West of Florida, living, in 30 fms., Bache; Barbados, 100 fms.; 

 Sigsbee, off Havana, 127 fms.; and, living, in Havana Passage at Station 152, 

 in 27 fms. 



This extremely common shell lives to about 100 fms. in depth; the genuine 

 deep-water specimens are pale, or with a few pink flecks, without any of the 



