OSTREA (EXOGYRA) FLABELLATA. 63 



This species might be mistaken for 0. virgaia Goldfiiss, were it not that, 

 in .accordance with Goldfuss's description and figures, all specimens of that 

 species which have come under my observation have the upper valve flat 

 and concentrically wrinkled, without the radiating folds and slight concav- 

 ity which are seen in the Lebanon specimens. 0. virgata, moreover, is on 

 record as strictly a Tertiary species, while the fossils before us clearly ante- 

 date the Tertiary period. 



I suspect this to be what Fraas has figured from part of a lower valve 

 (Aus dem Orient, II. Theil, p. 46, PI. ii, fig. 3) as O. siiccini Fraas, concerning 

 which the explanatory text accompanj'ing the figure is only tlie following : 

 '^Osirea succini is so characteristic in the whole of southerly Lebanon as an 

 associate of the Amber, that we name the Oyster from the accompanying 

 mineral. It is a small ribbed Oyster which is nearly like the Jurassic 0. suh- 

 serrala or costata, and is always swollen with a broader basis. The specimen 

 figured is one of the largest, which we found in the neighborhood of Djebaa. 

 Usually there is a whole colony of such Oysters together, and grown to one 

 another." Fraas names this as one of four species characteristic of the Ceno- 

 manian Sandstone, the second of the nine members into which he divides 

 the Cretaceous strata of Lebanon. 



Of at least two different Oysters which Conrad with some hesitation 

 describes and figures under the name 0. virgaia (Official Report, pp. 212 and 

 230, PI. i, figs. 6-8, and App., PL i, fig. 8), from the Cretaceous district of 

 Bhamdun, one is perhaps the species here considered, though an upper valve 

 suppcsed to belong to it is drawn without radiating folds. 



Since Fraas's figure of the fragment of a single valve, without an ade- 

 quate description accompanying it, gives no certainty in the case, I find 

 myself obliged to present the species under a new name, though loth to add 

 to the maze of fossil Oysters. Coll. Bird. 



Locality and Position. — Beirut district ; from an arenaceous bed which is 

 probably the Cenomanian Sandstone. 



Ostrea (Exogjrra) flabellata? cioldfuss. 



Exogi/ra flabellata, Goldfuss, 1834, Petvefacta Gcrmauice, II, p, 38, PI. Ixxxvii, figs. 6 «, b. 

 Ostrea flabellata, D'Orbigxy, 18i2, Puleuat. Fran?., Terr. Cret., Ill, \i. 717, PI cccclxxv. 



Two well pre-served lower valves ; one complete and having greater 

 diameter 101 mm. 



