24 THE MOLLUSCA OF THE FIRTH OF CLYDE. 
in his “Tres Tractatus,” states that it is found most abun- 
dantly on the sandy beach at the mouth of the Tees. 
Foreign localities—Massachusetts (Gould), Gulf of St. 
Lawrence ( Whiteaves), Iceland (Verkriizen), Norway (Lovén 
and Jeffreys), Brittany (Taslé). 
ASTARTE, J. Sowerby. 
* Astarte sulcata, Da Costa. 
Pectunculus sulcatus, Da Costa; Venus Scotica, Maton; Venus 
Danmonia, Montagu ; Crassina Danmoniensis, Lamarck ; 
Astarte Scotica, Fleming ; Venus compressa, Linné. The 
variety elliptica is the Crassina ovata and C. elliptica of 
Brown; Astarte elliptica of Moller, Lovén, Forbes and 
Hanley, and others. 
Habitat—In deep water, from 20 fathoms downward ; 
not uncommon. I have taken it outside Tan Spit, and off 
the Little Cumbrae; off Garroch Head, and Ascog, and in 
Rothesay Bay, Bute; and off Otter Spit and Moll Dhu, Loch 
Fyne; generally on a muddy bottom. Adult shells are 
almost always coated with a thick black deposit. 
The varieties Scotica and ellipticu occur sparingly; of each 
[have only taken one adult specimen, and a few young shells. 
British distribution —On all our coasts, generally in 
deepish water; much more common in the west and north 
of Scotland than elsewhere. 
Foreign localities—Including the varieties elliptica and 
incrassata this species extends over the Atlantic coasts of 
America from Massachusetts northward, to Greenland, Ice- 
land, and Spitzbergen, throughout northern and western 
Europe and the Mediterranean and Aigean Seas. M‘Andrew 
records it from the Canary Islands. 
* Astarte compressa, Montagu. 
Venus compressa, Montagu; Venus Montagui, Dillwyn ; 
Nicania striata, Leach; Astarte Banksii, Lovén. 
Habitat—In sand and nullipore, in 10 to 12 fathoms off 
Silvereraigs, Loch Fyne; not uncommon. This is the only 
locality within the firth in which I have taken it; Mr. 
Robertson, however, records it as moderately common off 
Cumbrae. 
British distribution.—Western, northern, and eastern 
coasts of Scotland ; and north-eastern England as far south 
as the Dogger Bank. 
Foreign localities—Gulf of St. Lawrence, as A. Banksii 
