Mr. A. Adams on Japanese S})ecies of Veneridse. 229 



Fit/. 8. Moorea silurica, sp. now ; from the Upper Ludlow beds, Hales 

 End, Malvern : a, right valve ; b, ventral view. 



Fig. 9. Kirkbya Jibula, sp. nov. ; from the Upper Ludlow beds, Hales 

 End, Malvern : «, right valve ; b, ventral view. 



Fir/. 10. Primitia excavata, sp. nov. ; from the Woolhope Limestone, near 

 Malvern : a, left valve ; b, ventral view ; c, portion of the de- 

 pressed area and of its border, highly magnified. 



XXXI. — On the Species o/" Veneridse found in Japan. 

 By Aethue Adams, F.L.S. &c. 



My list of the Japanese species of the Venus tribe is a tolerably 

 long one; but only a few unrecorded species were met with, 

 Reeve and Sowerby both being occupied with seeking out and 

 describing every member, however obscure, of this beautiful 

 family just on my arrival in England. Meretrix lusoria and 

 its varieties form a favourite article of diet among the poorer 

 classes of Japan ; they call it " Famaguri Hamongudi j" and 

 great heaps of the shells are often found near their houses. It 

 affords them also amusement. From the thousands of odd 

 valves they select numerous pairs which are both marked with 

 a similar pattern, and, sitting round in a circle on their mats, 

 one throws a number of shells down promiscuously ; and the 

 object of the simple game is to select pairs of similarly marked 

 valves quicker than any one else ! 



The habitat of Cltione cardioides, in the British Museum 

 Catalogue by M. Deshayes, is " Mare Antillarum," and that 

 of C. histrionica " America centralis ;" but these may be 

 errors. 



Fam. Veneridae. 



Subfam. Venebinje. 



Genus Venus, Linn. 



1. Venus lamellariSj Schum., Rve. Conch. Syst. pi. 68. f. 4. 



V. cancellata, Chenin. (non Lam.). 

 V. reticulata, var., Lam. 

 V. stibrostrata, Gray. 

 Dosina Lamarckii, Gray. 



Hah. Seto-Uchi, Kuro-Sima. 



2. Venus toreuma, Gld. Exp. Shells, 1850, p. 84 ; Sow. Thes. 



Conch, pi. 161. f. 187-189. 



U. crebrisulca, Sow. (non Lam.). 



V. Jnkesii, Desh. Cat. Conch. Brit. Mus. 1853. 



Hah. Gotto Islands, 48 fathoms ; Satanomosaki, 55 fms. 



