FAMILY VENERIDiE — AST ARTE. 221 



ASTARTE SULCATA. 



PLATE XXVIII. FIG. 281. 



Venus sulcata. Montagu, Test. Brit. p. 131. 



Crastina id. TtJET. Conch. Ins. Brit. p. 131, pi. 1 1, fig. 1 and 2. 

 Astarte damnoniensis. TOTTEN, Am. Journ. Sc. Vol. 28, p. 349, fig. 3, A. B. 



A. sulcata. Fleming, Brit. An. p. 439. Gould, Invertebrata of Mass. p. 78, fig. 46. 



Description. Shell solid, suborbicular, transverse, subinequilateral and perfectly closed. 

 Surface undulated, with fifteen to eighteen or twenty distinct obtuse concentric equidistant 

 ridges ; the spaces between, wider than the ridges, widest at the middle, contracting, and 

 with the ridges disappearing at the two ends. Beaks prominent, pointed and in contact. 

 Anterior area deep, smooth and lanceolate ; posterior slope slightly rounded, including a long 

 narrow and deeply excavated corslet. Margins crenulated in adults ; smooth in the young. 

 Epidermis very adherent. 



Color. Deep chesnut brown or greenish yellow ; the ridges occasionally denuded, and 

 exhibiting a white chalky appearance beneath. 



Vertical axis, 1*8 j transverse ditto, l'O; diameter, 0*4. 



The appearance of this shell, in its different stages of growth, has given rise to much 

 confusion in its synonimes. It is occasionally found along the gravelly bottoms on the coast 

 of Long island, but is more rare than the preceding. 



(EXTRA-LIMITAL.) 



A. lactea. (Brod. & Sow. ZooL Jour. Vol. 4, p. 365. Gould, 1. c. p. 80, fig. 47.) Shell subor- 

 bicular, much compressed, concentrically wrinkled ; an obsolete marginal tooth in each valve : 

 ridges most conspicuous on the posterior slope. Color: epidermis yellowish brown. Vertical axis, 

 1*0; transverse ditto, 1*1. Grand Banks. 



A.? quadrans. (Gould, lb. p. 81, fig. 48.) Shell triangular, small, slightly oblique; anterior side 

 longest. Surface smooth; beaks pointed, not inclined to either side; hinge with a small lateral 

 tooth on the anterior margin of the left valve. Color: epidermis yellowish olive. Length. 0-45. 

 Stomachs of fishes. Coast of Massachusetts. 



