Jrom the Island of Malta. 65 
teeth five, large, and bent: anus small, round, and inframar- 
ginal: interior of the test with a number of pillar-like processes 
towards the border. All the species of this genus live in the 
seas of warm latitudes, or are found fossil in the tertiary rocks 
only. We have six living and twelve fossil species. 
Clypeaster altus, Leske, sp. 
Syn. Echinus é Melita, Scilla, Corp. Mar. pl. 9. figs. 1, 2. 
Echinanthus altus, Leske, Klein, Echinoderm. apud Leske, No. 48. 
p- 189. pl. 53. fig. 4. 
Echinus altus, Gmelin, Linné by Turton, vol. iv. p. 149. 
Clypeaster altus, Lamarck, Hist. Nat. des Animaux sans Vertébres, 
2nd ed. tom. iii. p. 290 ; Deslongchamps, Encycl. t. ii. p. 199 ; 
Defrance, Dict. Se. Nat. t.ix. p.449; Blainville, Man. d’ Actin. 
p: 216; Desmoulins, Echinides, no. 7. p. 216; Agassiz and 
Desor, Cat. rais., Ann. Sc. Nat. tom. vil. p. 130; Sismonda, 
Ech. Foss. Nizza, p- 46; Ech. Foss. Piem. p. 40; Grateloup, 
Mem. Foss. Oursins de Dax, p. 41. 
Test oblong ; anterior border convex ; lateral borders undulated ; 
posterior border squarely truncated ; marginal fold more or 
less thickened ; dorsal surface elevated into a dome shape ; 
vertex nearly central ; ambulacral areas largely petaloid, their 
base extending nearly to the margin: base flat; mouth large 
and pentagonal, with a deep sulcus extending from the angles 
to the border, and corresponding to the middle suture of the 
ambulacral areas: anus small, round, and submarginal: 
granulations larger and more prominent at the base than on 
the dorsal surface. 
Description.—This beautiful Clypeaster has been so long known, 
that it seems unnecessary to give any lengthy details of its struc- 
ture; although it may be remarked, however, that we are not 
aware that a detailed description of the species exists. It was 
first troduced to notice through the figure of Scilla, and the 
specimens before us belong to the same type as that given in his 
work. Many of the Maltese varieties of this species, however, 
are remarkable for their deviation from this typical form; the 
dorsal surface in them rises into a campanulate shape, and 
the circumference becomes almost round. These varieties con- 
stitute the Clypeaster turritus, Agass., from the Miocene of 
Dax, and the Clypeaster Agassizii, Sismonda, from beds of the 
same age near Nice. We have before us a similar conical 
variety from Malta, belonging to the Museum of the Bristol 
Institution ; and others, collected by the Marchioness of Hast- 
ings, are in ‘the Jermyn Street Museum. 
All the specimens in Earl Ducie’s cabinet, with one exception, 
