147 



described as prominent, and as being placed behind the middle, so that 

 its posterior side is the shortest of the two. It is not easy to see why 

 T. strigata, Goldfuss, and T. sculptilis, Stoliczka, are placed in different 

 subgenera. 



LiNEARIA (JjEIOTHYRIS) MeEKANA, WhITEAVES. 



Tellina Meekiana, Whiteaves. — Geol. Surv. of Canada, Rep. of Progress 1873-74, p. 268, 



pi. of foss., fig. 6. 



Shell compressed, very slightly convex, trausvei'sely but broadly 

 ovate, the height (in the most perfect specimen known) being rather 

 moi-e than three-fourths of the length ; test thin. Anterior side shoi-t and 

 broadl}' rounded ; posterior side much longer and narrower, bluntly 

 pointed or very narrowl}- subtruncated at the end ; outline of the basal 

 half of the shell forming a regular semi-ovate curve. Beaks small, 

 depressed, pointing forwards and placed about half way between the 

 centre and the anterior end. Dorsal margin sloping convexly and very 

 gradually downwards behind the beaks, straighter and descending much 

 more rapidly and abruptly in fi'ont of them. Escutcheon or ligamental 

 area very naiTOw, obliquely and slightly compressed, not bounded in 

 each valve by a distinct umbonal ridge. 



Sui'face marked by crowded, but rather irregular and not very minute, 

 concentric striations. Hinge teeth unknown. Pallial sinus oblique, 

 ascending, rather deep, extending nearly or quite to the middle of the 

 valves and nari'owly rounded at its inner termination. 



Length, sixteen lines ; height, thirteen. 



Gabriola Island, in Division B; J. Eichardson, 1871, The least perfect 

 of the only two specimens yet obtained is narrower in proportion to its 

 height than the one from which the above description was made. 



The only fossil from the Cretaceous rocks of North America that might 

 be mistaken for this species is the " Tellina (Arcopagia?) Cheyennensis " 

 of Meek & Hayden,* from the forks of the Cheyenne River, Dakotah, but 

 the last named shell may be readily distinguished by its more prominent 

 beaks and by its larger and wider escutcheon. 



* See Meek's Report on the Invertebrate Cretaceous and Tertiary Fossils of the Upper Mls- 

 soxiri Country, p. 60T, pi. IT, ng .16, 



