309 



Pamily LIMID^. 



Genus LIMA (Chemnitz), Lamarck. 

 [Mem. Soc. Hist. Nat. Paris, 1799, p. 88.] 



Shell equivalve, compressed, ovate, oblique, slightly inflated ; 

 ornamented with radiating costae, which may be simple or scaly ; 

 umbones prominent, auriculate, small lateral appendages unequal ; 

 cardinal area triangular, having a central pit for the ligament ; 

 hinge without teeth ; muscle impressions large. Bruguiere figured 

 but did not describe this genus.' 



Type. — Ostrea lima, LinuEEus. 



Lima colorata, Hutton. 



1873. Lima colorata, Hutton, Cat. Tert. Moll. N.Z. p. 33. 



So far as the writer is able to judge from Hutton's brief 

 description, the fossils here alluded to belong to his L. colorata, 

 which appears to be closely related to L. zealandica, Sowerby. 

 The shell is broad and solid; radiating costa? simple, or only 

 ornamented by the crossing of growth-lines, distant, rounded at the 

 sides and flat on top ; triangular ligament pits large, visible from 

 the exterior ; anterior auricles slightly produced, posterior small, 

 ridge-like ; dorsal surface flattened and finely costated ; umbones 

 acute, bent inwards. 



Dimn?isions. — Height 84 mm. ; length 66 mm. 



Form, and Loc. — Pliocene (?) and Miocene : K'ew Zealand. 



34886. Many examples of both valves, in various stages of 

 growth ; from Parimoa. W. B. D. Mantell Coll. 



L. 10597. Specimens of the adult, both valves ; from Awamoa. 



Sir James Hector Coll. 



' Ency. Meth. Yers., etc. t. ii (plates), 1792, pi. ccvi. 



