BY C. HEDLEY. 205 



Usclihei, so abundant on the coast of New South Wales, fails to 

 attain North Queensland, and becomes rare to the point of 

 extinction in South Australia. It is, therefore, unlikely that it 

 should reach the Philippines. Our shell does not agree with 

 Reeve's figure of A. guhernaculum. Doubtless this is the species 

 reported as Area glohata from Zostera flats at Brisbane by Forbes;"*^ 

 this name is either a MS. one or a misprint. 



As subfossil, the species has been noted at Shea's Creek, f at 

 Maitland,:|: at Nudgee,§ and as A. antiquafa at Deception Bay.|! 



From aboriginal middens it has been noted at North Harbour, H 

 from the Panbula Ri\er,'^* and from Bondi.ff 



The reddish colour of its blood has been remarked by Tenison 

 Woods.§g 



As bait for fishing it is in great demand round Sydney. Waite 

 has reported it|||| as sold for food in the Sydney fish market, under 

 the name of " cockle." 



For the further elucidation of the species, I add figures and a 

 description prepared under the impression that I was dealing 

 Avith an unnamed species. 



Shell very solid, equivalve, oblong, trapezoidal from the side, 

 wedge-shaped from back to front, oblique, inflated, inequilateral. 

 Umbo at the anterior third, elevated, incurved, distant one-quarter 

 of the valve-depth from the hinge-margin. Sculpture : twenty- 

 nine elevated, strong, radial ribs, parted by flat interspaces of 

 equal breadth; both are traversed by imbricating growth-lines; 

 anteriorly the ribs on both valves carry regularly spaced knots 

 which gradually disappear towards the middle of the shell, and 



* Voy. Rattlesnake, ii. 1852, p. 364. 



tEtheridge, David, and Grimshaw, Proc. Roy. Soc. N.S. W. xxx. 1897, p. 16. 



X David and Etheridge, Rec. Geol Survey N.S.W. ii. 1890, p. 40. 



§ Jack and Etheridge, Geol. Queensland, p. 641. 



ri Jensen, these Proceedings, xxviii. p. 847. 



IT David and Etheridge, Rec. Geol. Survey N.S.W. i. 1889, p. 142. 



** Anderson, Rec. Geol. Survey N.S.W. ii. 1890, pp. 55-57. 



ft Brazier, these Proceedings, xxi. p. 818. 



§§Proc. Roy. Soc. N.S.W. xxii. 1888, p. 123. 



ill! These Proceedings, (2) ix. p, 562. 



