60 WEST COAST SHELLS 



toothed Venus-heart. The figure is of the natural 

 size, and the specimen from which it was made was 

 obtained in the vicinit}^ of Icy Cape. Notice the 

 very heavy hinge-teeth, from which the species re- 

 ceived its name. 



The last member of this family of the Carditidcz 

 to be noticed is named Milneria minima., Dall, the 

 Least Milner-shell. It was discovered by Dr. Wm. 

 H. Dall in 1866, at Monterey, where it was found 

 nestling on the back of abalones. It is a curious 

 little bivalve, about as large as a grain of wheat, 

 light brown in color, very strongly angled, and 

 marked by numerous lines of growth. It is worth 

 looking for. 



The members of the genus 

 Astarte have thick shells, cov- 

 ered with dark, heavy epi- 

 dermis. Astarte, by the way, 

 was the Syrian Venus, so we 

 have another mythical name 

 added to the many which have 

 gone before. As Venus was 

 supposed to represent beauty, so the beautiful shells 

 are appropriately given her various names. Figure 

 32 represents Astarte alaskensis, Dall, the Alaskan 

 Astarte. The figure is about natural size, and very 

 j)lainly shows the peculiarities of the shell. The 

 epidermis, or periostracum, is very dark, and be- 

 comes black in old shells, while the solid j)ortion 

 beneath it is white. This species lives in Bering 

 Sea, and has been found as far south as Puget 

 Sound, 



