228 Notes on Species of Corbicidada. 



Passing in review the synonyms, I will begin with the first 

 in the series, the Cyrena similis, Gray. I have never seen this 

 shell, and judging from the figure alone, there being no descrip- 

 tion, I should say that it differed from the type in so far only 

 that it is green and that it is smaller. It is necessary to say 

 here that the Cyrena similis is not to be confounded with the 

 Venus similis of the same author, which is figured in Wood's 

 Index; aud in conjunction with this immediate subject it 

 is not inappropriate to quote here a few lines from a letter 

 addressed to me some years ago by Mr. Sylvanus Hanley of 

 London. Mr. Hanley says, " Having examined the supposed 

 type I can assert (I erred in trusting Gray in my edition of 

 Wood) that Gray has given the same name to two widely dif- 

 fering species. In 1828 he first published the one in the Index 

 Test. Suppl. ( Venus similis), and in 1834 in Griffith's Cuvier 

 he figured the other (Cyrena similis)." 



Having assumed the shell figured in Griffith, the Cyrena 

 similis, to be the Corbicula Woodiana, we must necessarily 

 regard the one figured in Wood's Index, the Venus similis, as 

 different. What the Venus similis really is will be discussed, 

 I hope, at some future time. 



Mr. Cuming very kindly sent me the shells described by Mr. 

 Deshayes under the names of Corbiada grandis and similis, 

 and I can confidently assert that they are not materially differ- 

 ent from the type. 



Specimens of the shell described as Corhicula Primeana,* 

 were sent to me by Mr. Bernardi at the same time he commu- 

 nicated them to Professor Morch, their eventual describer, and 

 the only points of difference I could discover between them and 

 the type, were that they were smaller. Prof. Morch assigns 

 Siam as the habitat of his species, evidently a mistake. The 

 accompanying figure was taken from a specimen of the so-called 

 Corhicula Primeana, and in consequence represents a shell 

 somewhat smaller than the type. 



* Non Corbicula Primeana, Morelet, vide p. 58, f. 2. 



