MOLLUSCA. 533 



Family OTTSPIDARIIDAE. 



Genus CUSPIDARIA Nardo. 



Cuspidaria ventricosa (Meek and Hayden). 



Plate LVIII, Figs. 16-17. 



1856. Corbula ventricosa M. & H., Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phil., 

 vol. 8, p. 83. 



1860. Ncczra ventricosa M. & H., Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phil, 



vol. 12, p. 185. 



1 86 1. Nea-era ventricosa Gabb, Synop. Moll. Cret. Form., p. 



204 . 

 1864. Necera ventricosa Meek, Check List Inv. Foss. N. A., 



Cret. and Jur., p. 15. 

 1876. Necera ventricosa Meek, Rep. on Inv. Cret. and Ter. Foss. 



Up. Mo., p. 238, pi. 30, figs. 3 a-e. 



Description. "Shell small, nearly or quite equivalve, rather 

 thin, very ventricose in the anterior and central regions; anterior 

 margin somewhat narrowly rounded; base very deeply rounded 

 toward the front, contracted behind; posterior side longer than 

 the other, narrow, compressed and rostriform; dorsum sloping 

 gradually with a concave outline behind the beaks, declining more 

 abruptly in front ; beaks prominent, apparently equal not oblique, 

 located a little in advance of the middle; pallial border smooth; 

 surface marked by rather concentric striae." (Meek.) 



The dimensions of a single valve are : length, 13 mm. ; height, 

 7 mm. ; convexity, 2.7 mm. 



Remarks. All the examples of this species observed in New 

 Jersey are casts, and these have frequently been more or less 

 distorted in the soft clays and sands where they occur. The 

 form and size of the shell, however, agrees well with those de- 

 scribed by Meek from the Fox Hills and Pierre faunas of the 

 west, and there can be no doubt as to their identity. 



Formation and locality. Wenonah . sand, near Marlboro 

 (I30 1 ); Red Bank sand, Red Bank (116), Shrewsbury River 

 (119), near Middletown (112); Tinton beds, Beers Hill cut 



(I29 5 )- 

 Geographic distribution. New Jersey, South Dakota. 



