SPATHA 1317 



margin at a decided angle ; anterior region very short, rounded ; 

 antero'-dorsal angle strongly projecting; posterior region well 

 developed, slightly subtruncate, a little more than twice as 

 long as the anterior ; dorsal ridge very obtuse ; beaks well an- 

 terior, not prominent, much eroded ; ligament very strong : 

 anterior muscular impressions very deep ; posterior deep ; pal- 

 lial medium. Kpidermis very deep brown, almost black ; lines 

 of growth strong and irregular, more feeble anteriorly ; nacre 

 bright rose-salmon, very iridescent. 



Length 126, height 86, at the beal<s 52, diam. 54 mm." ( Ger- 

 main). 



Type locality, I,e Mamoun. Senoussi Country and Le Grib- 

 ingui. 

 Spatha nibens chudeani Germain, Bull. Mus. Hist. Nat., 1907, 



p. 65 ; I'Afrique Cent. Fr.. 1907, p. 552, fig. 91. 



"This magnificent variety is distinguished from the typical 

 form by the very anterior position of the beaks ; by the greater 

 development of the posterior region, which terminates in a 

 regularly rounded extremity : by the greatest height being 

 more distant from the beaks ; finally by the very divergent dor- 

 sal and ventral margins. In this last character, this varietv 

 recalls the appearance of Spatha kirki Ancey. In both of these 

 shells, the dorsal margin is similarly very regularly convex 

 from the postero-dorsal angle to the ventral margin." 



Spatha rf.net Jousseaume. 



"Shell solid, depressed, equivalve, inequilateral, rounded in 

 front, broader, compressed and subrotund behind, lines of 

 growth irregularly concentric, epidermis olivaceous-black ; 

 umbones not prominent, eroded, placed at 1-3 of the length ; 

 dorsal margin curved ; ventral rounded ; hinge sinuous, enden- 

 tulous ; nacre iridescent, flesh-colored, violaceous under the 

 beaks. 



Length 81, height 56, diam. 25 mm." (Jousseaume). 



Type locality, The Niger at Bamakou and Kougaba. 

 Spatha renei Jousseaume,, Bull. Soc. Zool. Fr., XL 1886, p. 



22, pi. xiii, figs. 3, 3(7.— Germain. I'Afrique Cent. Fr., 1907, 



P- 5.53- 



