142 DE. T. DAVIDSON ON EECENT BEACHIOPODA. 



with light-brick or rose-red between the ribs ; shell-structure punctate. Length a little over 

 1 line, breadth 2 lines, and less than 1 line in depth. In the interior of the dorsal valve 

 the hinge-plate is very broad and narrow ; from under its centre a long narrow mesial 

 septum proceeds to within a short distance of the front margin, which acquires height as 

 it nears its anterior extremity. The principal lamellse of the loop, first attached to the 

 base of the hinge-plate by a half-circle, afterwards attach themselves to tlie sides of the 

 anterior extremity of the septum. Margins of the shell crenulated. In the interior of the 

 ventral valve a short mesial ridije extends to half the leno>th of the valve under the 

 posterior thickened edge of the foramen. 



Hah. Cistella ciineata occurs in different j)laces in the Mediterranean. In the Bay of 

 Naples ; iEgean Sea at a depth of from 28 to 69 fathoms (Forbes) ; near Villafranca. To 

 a white variety found near the coast of Sicily Dr. Gwyn Jeffreys has given the varietal 

 name oipentalaria. It has been found off the Canaries in 28 to 200 fathoms ( MacAndrew) ; 

 off Corsica (Terquem), Sardinia (Cantraiue), Dalmatia (Brusina). 



Philippi mentions it as fossil at Tarent. 



Obs. In the ' Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London ' for 1852 I gave an 

 enlai'ged figure, showing the interior of both valves in a dried specimen given to me by 

 Prof. E. Porbes in 18.51. It shows the fringed labial appendages of a yellow colour, the 

 position of the mouth, and of the adductor, cardinal and pedicle muscles. 



Cistella cimeata bears some external resemblance to Argiope decollata, but differs from 

 it generically, on account of its bilobed loop which is attached to a single submarginal 

 septum. It is also a much smaller shell, with fewer and simple ribs tinted with red 

 in their interspaces. 



In his paper on the Mollusca procured during the ' Lightning' and ' Porcupine ' Expe- 

 ditions (Proc. Zool. Soc. of London, 1878, p. 410), Dr. Gwyn Jeffreys says : — " I have 

 been favoured by Prof. Seguenza with an opportunity of examining his unique specimen 

 of Argiope biplicata from the Straits of Messina, and of comparing it with an extensive 

 series of A. cimeata and its colourless variety. The result of such examination and com- 

 parison, as regards both the outside and inside, compels me to consider the specimen an 

 abnormal form of A. cuneata!' 



I would, however, have almost considered it a malformation of Cistella neapolttana, for 

 some specimens of the last-named shell sometimes possess four rounded ribs with a Avide 

 mesial interspace, as in Seguenza's specimen. Cistella cimeata has received three or four 

 specific names, but that of cimeata seems to be the oldest. While at Nice, in 1869, I 

 was able to examine llisso's types of Terebratula cimeata and T. Soldaniana, and found 

 them referable to a single species, and this view was subsequently confirmed by Dr. Gwyn 

 Jeffreys. 



81. Cistella lutea, Dall. (Plate XXTII. figs. 5 & 6.) 



Cistella Barrettiana, Dall, Amer. Jouni. of Condi, vol. vi. p. 1-16, 1870. 



Cistella {1 Barretti(t)ia var.) lutea, Dall, Report on the Brach. dredged by the United States Coast 

 Survey Exped., Bull. :\Ius. Comp. Zool. vol. iii. p. 20, pi. i. figs. 5 & 6, 1871. 



Cistella lutea, Dall, Moll, of the ' Blake ' Exped., Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool. vol. xii. p. 203, 1886. 



