310 FOSSIL OSTREID^ OF NORTH AMERICA. 



ters of the Ostreidae prevent me from expressing a definite opinion as to 

 tbe relationsbip of the two species. The figures of 0. belloracina as 

 given by Searles Wood in bis Monograph of tbe Eocene Mollusca (Pale- 

 ontologieal Society's Eeports for 1861, Plate VIII, Figs. 3, a, b, c), 

 accord almost perfectly with the American oyster. Tlie oyster found 

 by Lyell in tbe "Grove" about 17 miles north of Charleston, S. C, and 

 which appeared to him " undistinguishable from 0. bellovacina " (Jour- 

 nal of the Geological Society of London, I, page 433) is probably tbe 0. 

 caroKnensis Conrad, a form very closely allied to 0. compressirostra. 



Ostrea cretaceu Morton. 



This species, described by Morton in the Synopsis of the Organic Re- 

 mains of the Cretaceous Group, page 52, Plate XIX, Fig. 3, is found in 

 South Carolina and Alabama (?). It is given as Eocene on the authority 

 of Gabb (Proceedings of the Phdadelphia Academy of Sciences for 1861, 

 page 328 ; " Mollusca of the Cretaceous Formation," page 152) and is 

 not included in Conrad's Check List. 



Ostrea divaricata Lea. 



(Plate LXIV, Fig. 1.) 



This was published by Lea among his collections from Alabama in his 



Contribution to Geology, page 91, Plate III, Fig. 70. 



Syn. — 0. flabellulal Lamarck. 

 In the Proceedings of the National Institute (1841-'6, page 193), as well 

 as subsequently (American Journal of Concbology, I, page 15), Conrad 

 unhesitatingly refers this species to his 0. sellccformis—a view which 

 appears to nie to be decidedly erroneous. Although the two species 

 clo.sely resemble each other in the young stage, they may, nevertheless, 

 on close inspection, be readily distinguished from each other. The dis- 

 tinguishing characters between 0. divaricata and 0. falci/ormis Conrad 

 (American Journal of Concbology, I, page 140) are not so easily made 

 out, and I must confess my inability thus far to discover what they are. 

 The 0. divaricata certainly agrees very closely with the figures and de- 

 scription of Lamarck's 0. flabellula. to which species it is in fact unhesi- 

 tatingly referred by Nyst (Coqu. et Polyp. Foss., page 323) and Giebel 

 (Eepertorium to Goldfuss' Petrefacta Germaniic, 18C6, p. 41). Tbe last 

 is a very variable and one of the most widely dispersed of fossil oysters, 

 its range extending from Alabama (Deshayes ; and d'Orbigny, Prodrome 

 de Pal^ontologie, II, page 394) to Cutch, in India, and Cairo, in Egypt 

 (Deshayes, Anim. sans Vertebr. Bassin de Paris, 11, page 121.) 



Ostrea everaa Mellville sp. 



(Plate LXIV, Figs. 5, 6, 7, S.) 

 A fossil of the French Eocene (Deshayes, Anim. sans Vertfebr. Bas- 

 sin de Paris, II, page 99, Plate 84, Figs. 5-8), identified in the Eocene 

 of Maryland and Mississippi. 



Syn. — Gr!ix>hostrea everaa Comad. Siuithsouiau Clieok List. 



