36 MARSHALL : NEW BRITISH MARINE SHELLS. 



The frosted patches are, I beheve, a characteristic of this 

 pecuHar genus, and cover about half the surface of the shell. 



It is not the )'Oung of any British species, and its nearest 

 representative among British shells is Lepton clavkiae ; but this 

 species is thinner, more oval and depressed, the beaks are less 

 prominent and not so central, and the dentition is altogether 

 different. Than the young of Diplcdonta trigonula, which is also 

 oblique and has somewhat similar teeth, the present species is 

 thinner and more oblique, being broader than long. And in 

 comparison with Axinns cycladhis, this is more compressed, has 

 strong and well-defined teeth, and is much less fragile. 



I have named the species after the Eddystone Lighthouse, 

 near which my specimens (five valves) were found about ten 

 years ago. I have since then obtained another valve from the 

 Land's End and one from Guernsey (20 fathoms), and I also 

 have a pair of valves dredged by the Porcupine Expedition off 

 Vigo Bay, in 20 fathoms, not noticed by Jeffreys in his report of 

 that expedition. 



It must be living in the vicinity of the Eddystone, as all 

 the valves are quite fresh. They were procured in trawl refuse 

 on ground composed mainly of the remains of polyzoa, known to 

 the trawlers as " moss," and were associated with Argiope 

 cistelliila, Cevithiopsis metaxae, Philinc angiilata, and other rare 

 species all new to this region, and I was doubtful at first 

 whether the trawlers had not gone out considerably to sea, but 

 am satisfied that the material came from the Eddystone grounds, 

 the " moss " bottom being well known to trawlers. 



The shells may possibly have previously been passed over 

 for water- worn valves of Astarte triangnlavis, which swarms on 

 the Eddystone grojmds, and is not very unlike them outwardly, 

 but is thicker, more simply triangular, and has a crenulated 

 margin. 



Lepton sykesii, Chaster."'' 



This species occurred to me in the summer of 1893, from 

 dredgings obtained off the east coast of Guernsey, between the 

 trawling grounds and St. Martin's Point, in 18 fathoms, with 

 Argiope decollata. I had provisionally given it the MS. name of 

 Lepton pHsilliiiii, and although my diagnosis does not quite agree 

 with Mr. Chaster's, I have no doubt that my specimens belong 

 to the same species. 



* Annals and Mag. Nat, Hist., March, 1895, page 248. 



