MUSEUM OF COMPARATIVE ZOOLOGY. 105 



ACEPHALA. 



VERTICORDIA (Wood) Sowerbt. 

 Verticordia ornata D'Orbignv. 



Trigonulina ornata D'Orbigny, Sagi-a, Moll. Cub., II. p. 292, PI. XXVII. figs. SO- 

 BS, (1846) 185S. 



Ilippagus novemcostatus Adams and Reeve, Voy. Samarang, Zool., p. 76, PI. XXIV. 

 fig. 1, 1850. 



Trigonituna ornata Cliena, Man., II. pp.. 169, S22, fig. 843, 1862. 



Verticordia ornata Fischer, Journ. de Conchyl., X. p. 380, 1862. 



Barbados, 100 fms. ; Station 19, 310 fms. [Catalina Island, California, 16 

 fms., Dall ; shell sand, Jamaica, W. I., D'Orbigny ; China Seas, Adams.] 



This species has no epidermis, as erroneously stated in the Zoology of the 

 Samarang, and copied by various authors. That specimen may have been 

 covered with some extraneous substance, which in drying gave the impression 

 of an epidermis. A careful examination of fresh specimens from California, 

 and of fresh specimens of other species, reveals no sign of any epidermis, nor of 

 any ossicle, as reported by Adams. The latter, seen only in one instance, may 

 have been a concretion accidental to the individual, as often happens in 

 bivalves. Nevertheless, I am of the opinion that the reference of the genus to 

 the AnatinidcB will probably be sustained, as it seems much more probable 

 than any relationship to the porcellanous Isocardia or Cardita. The number 

 of ribs varies from eight to eleven, but is usually ten. 



Verticordia acuticostata Philippi. 



Hippagus acuticostatus Philippi, Moll. Sic, II. p. 42, Tab. XIV. fig. 19, 1844. 

 (Fossil in Miocene of Calabria.) 



Iphigenia acicticostata Costa, Pal. del Regno Nap., p. 160, Tav. XIII. fig. 9, 1850. 

 (Fossil. ) 



Verticordia acuticostata Seguenza, Journ. de Conchyl., VIII. p. 291, PI. X. fig. la-e, 

 1860. (Fossih) 



? Verticordia Deshaijesiana Fischer, Journ., loc. cit., X. p. 35, PL V. figs. 10, 11, 1862. 



? Verticordia japonica A. Adams, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., Mar. 1862, p. 224. (In- 

 sufficiently described. ) 



Station 31, 84 fms.; Station 5, 229 fms.; Barbados, 100 fms. [China, 

 Fischer ; Gotto Id., Japan, A. Adams, 71 fms.] 



The form which I refer to Philippi's, species (and all of whose synonyms I 

 suspect may perhaps some time be referred with it to the original type V. verti- 

 cordia S. Wood) is a little more like Fischer's figure of V. Desliayesiana than 

 Seguenza's figure of V. acuticostaia. However, specimens enough are at hand to 

 show that the shell has a larger amount of variation than the few specimens in 



