194 STUDIES ON AUSTRALIAN MOLLUSCA, VIII., 



two papillate, cardinal teeth enclosing a deep, narrow fossette 

 which received the single well-developed cardinal of the right 

 valve. Length 3*5; height 3-0; diam. of single valve Tl mm. 



Hnh. — Sixteen miles east of Wollongong in 100 fathoms; a few 

 separate valves dredged by Mr. G. H. Halligan and self. 



Type. — To be presented to the Australian Museum. 



The lack of radial sculpture distinguishes this from related 

 forms; it is besides the smallest of the genus. The observations 

 on the exceptional hinge require to be checked on fresh material. 



Chione nitida, Quoy k Gaimard. 



Venus nitida, Quoy & Gaim., Voy. Astrolabe, Zool. iii. 1835, 

 p. 529, pi. Ixxxiv., figs. 13, 15 (not 13, 14, as quoted in the text). 



Venus fumigata, Sowerb}'-, Thes. Conch, ii. Venus, 1853, p. 737, 

 pi. clix., figs. 152-155. 



Venus IcBvigata, Sowerby, op. cit., p. 738, pi. clix., fig. 158. 



The original locality for this species is Hobart, Tasmania. It 

 was characterised by its authors as one inch long, smooth, glossy, 

 oval wedge-shaped, inequilateral, the rounded anterior end 

 shortest, the posterior produced and rather abruptly angled, 

 without a lunule, exterior a uniform clear brown, interior bright 

 orange. 



The misprint by which " fig. 14 " has been exchanged for " fig. 

 15 " has, perhaps, led to confusion. At first sight, fig. 13 of the 

 Astrolabe plate appears to represent a valve concentrically^ cor- 

 rugated, but in view of the insistence of the text that the shell 

 is smooth (Venus polie— Venus nitida — Venus... polita — Cette 

 Venus est lisse), the darker spaces should be read as colour bands. 



The London conchologists, as usual, made no effort to recognise 

 this species previously named by the French naturalists, and, as 

 usual, renamed it when they met it. So it has practically passed 

 into oblivion. Messrs. Tate k May subordinate it with a query* 

 to Meretrix planatella, and Messrs. Pritchard tt Gatliff follow 

 their example with doubt f 



* Tate & May, Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S'.W. xxvi. 1901, p. 428. 

 t Pritchard & Gatlift", Proc. Eoy. Soc. Vic. xvi. (n.s.), 1903, p. 130. 



