ASTARTE. 469 



much elongated, greatly sloping, and almost straight, being 

 very slightly retuse near the beaks, and not much convex 

 subsequently ; the hinder termination is well rounded and 

 13 rejecting. There is neither lunule nor lozenge, but there 

 is a slight undefined depression or flattening of the sides, 

 both to the right and left of the umbones ; which latter 

 are remarkably prominent, but the beaks are neither acute 

 nor at all inclined. The ligament is very short, but not 

 depressed. Internally the lower margins are coarsely cre- 

 nated, with raised bead-like projections, which, however, 

 do not always exist in the immature specimens. There 

 are two diverging central simple teeth in the right hinge, 

 and a large simple inwardly-sloping central tooth in the 

 other : the muscular scars are by no means large. 



Examples which are equal to the eighth of an inch in 

 breadth, and the ninth or tenth of an inch in length, may 

 be regarded as fine ones, the ordinary run of specimens 

 being somewhat less. 



It seems far more abundant in Scotland than in England, 

 where it is always held a very rare shell, and is dredged 

 (but usually in not very shallow water) at Scarborough 

 (Bean); the Fern Islands (Alder); Exmouth (Clark); 

 Plymouth and Whitesand Bay (Jeffreys) ; Falmouth 

 (Mont, and Jeffreys) ; the Scilly Islands (M'Andrew) ; 

 Guernsey (S.H.) ; Isle of Man, in fifteen fathoms (E. F.) ; 

 Langland Bay, in Glamorganshire, in twenty-five fathoms 

 sand (Jeffreys) ; Tenby (Lyons) ; Fishguard (Jeffreys). 

 Among Scottish localities may be mentioned, — Icolmkill, 

 very abundant in five fathoms, and equally plentiful in 

 fifty-five fathoms, off Cape Wrath (M'Andrew) ; in from 

 five to fifty fathoms on the Zetland Coast, and thirty-five 

 off Duncansby Head ; also in the Moray Firth (M'An- 

 drew). It is a rare pleistocene fossil. 



