85 
ASTARTE. 
VENUS Linn. Lam. 
Gey. Cuar. Suborbicular or transverse. Ligament 
external; a lunette in the posterior side ; two 
_ diverging teeth near the beak. 
ee a, eed 
"Tueshells of this Genus have three muscular impressions ; 
the cartilage on one side and the lunette on the other, 
together with the general form, gives them a resemblance 
to those of the Linnean Genus, Venus. Their outsides 
have transverse undulations or reflected depressed coste, 
which give the surface a natural character, by which they 
may be distinguished upon general inspection. Theiredges 
are mostly crenulated within. There is one tooth less in 
the hinge than in Venus; the beaks are generally filled 
up, not hollow within under the teeth; there is also com- 
monly an obscure elongated tooth at some distance from 
the beak under the lunette. Of this Genus there are seve- 
ral recent British species and many Foreign ones, all 
of which have hitherto been classed under Venus; of the 
former are Venus Scotica, (which may be taken for the 
type of the Genus) V. sulcata, Danmoniz, paphia, fas- 
ciata, subcordata. It was not until I sought for the proper 
place in the system for the fossil species, “that I perceived 
the necessity of making a new Genus, to which I have 
given the name of one of the Heathen Deities, sometimes 
styled Venus. 
ASTARTE lurida. 
TAB. CX Pig. 4. 
Spec. Cuar. Transversely oblong, convex, de- 
pressed, with many transverse undulations ; 
lunette elliptical, sharp ; margin crenulated 
within. 
nee ie 
A oratuer thick shell with a straightish front, and 
arched back, half as wide again as it is long. 
A blue sandy Clay in the Fox-hill quarries, Gloucester- 
1816. XX¥Y> 
