NO. 1312. SYNOPSIS OF THE VENERIDM— BALL. 383 



Cape Fear, North Carolina, in 17 fathoms, sand. Cat. No. 92022, 

 U.S.N.M. 



This pretty little species is easily discriminated b\' its form and color 

 fro'u C. aotceUata at any stage of growth. It is nanicnl in honor of 

 Mr. W. G. Mazyck, of Charleston, South Carolina. 



NOTES. 



The following nomina nuda have been cited in connection with the 

 P^ast American fauna: Yenim lanceata ''Say" and T^. metastriata 

 ''Sav," Venus jyunctulata "Valenciennes*' and Cytlierea elevata Con- 

 rad, by Conrad, 1846: Cytherea heUd and Venus orbicularis Kurtz, 

 I860. Names of West American species have been mistakenly applied 

 to those of the east coast, or West American specimens have been 

 wrongfully attributed to eastern localities as follows: Cytherea pan- 

 nosa Sowerby, Taj^es grata Say, Yenm puUcaria Broderip, Chione 

 clngulata and Artemis hroyeri Philippi, Chione asperrima Sowerby, 

 and CalUsta cxspinata Reeve. Exotic species wrongly given east 

 American habitats are: Venus crenata "Chemnitz," Cytherea affinis 

 "Gmelin," Sowerby, 1853, Cytherea kingii Gray and C. modesta Phil- 

 ippi, Dosinia dilatata Philippi, D. lucimdis Lamarck, D. cyclas 

 Romer, and D. kraussii Romer. 



Species from exotic localities like St. Vincent, Cape Verde Islands, 

 of which the names are repeated in American waters, have been cata- 

 logued as from the latter; such are Dosinia radiata Reeve and Venus 

 verrucosa Linnieus. Cytherea occulta Say, 1S22, is unfigured and 

 known only by the original description. Most of the names of Amer- 

 ican TiveJa have been indiscriminately cited from both coasts, the spe- 

 cies being difficult to discriminate and genetically connected. Venus 

 foveolata Sowerby, 1853. was described from Martinique, but Deshayes 

 adds to the locality "China." It does not come from both places, 

 but has not been authentically reported from the AVest Indies since 

 Sowerby's time. Locard, in the report on the Talisman expedition 

 mollusca, reports it from St. Vincent, Cape Verde Islands, in 35 

 fathoms. Ta2)es occidentalis Reeve, 1864, appears to be identical with 

 a Bombay species, figured on the same plate. It is certainly not 

 West Indian. The ascription of Venus decorata Broderip and Sow- 

 erby, 1835, by Reeve in 1863, to the West Indies, is erroneous. It is 

 of a strictly oriental type and comes from the Moluccas. I suspect 

 Venus sallei Reeve, 1864, of a similar origin, notwithstanding the fact 

 that it is said by Reeve to come from ''Bird Island, in the Caribbean 

 Sea. " There are a great many ^ ' Bird Islands " scattered over the world, 

 and this shell, so far as I may judge from the figure, has an Indo- 

 Pacific aspect. 



Dosinia turgida Reeve, 1850, through confusion with CyclineUa 

 tenuis Recluz, has erroneously acquired an American habitat. 



