OF SOUTHEPtX IXDIA. 211 



9. Conocardiiim, Bronn, 1835, (Leth. Geog., vol. i, pt. i, 1st edit., p. 91; 

 Tleurorhynchus, PhilL, 1836, M^'Coy, 1844, &c.). Shell high, short, with the beaks 

 more or less distinctly carinated, incurved and approximate as in Uemicardia, 

 surface radiately ribbed, inner edge crenulated or toothed ; hinge-line straight, long, 

 anteriorly generally less, posteriorly more produced and gaping at the end ; hinge 

 of right valve in the type species, C. aUforme, Sow., with an obtuse, thick, double 

 cardinal tooth in front of a pit, posterior lateral tooth remote, lamelliform, anterior 

 not known ; species of Conocardium are as yet only known from palaeozoic rocks ; 

 they, however, require to be re-examined in order to fix the hinge characters 

 of the genus. 



10. Goldfussia, Castelnau, 1843, (Syst. Sil. Amer. sept., p. 48), is based upon 

 Cardinm nautiloides, each valve of which is said to resemble a laterally compressed 

 Nautilus, keeled on either side. Philippi mentions (Handbuch., &c., p. 339,) this 

 genus in the Cawdiidm ; I have not been able to get access to the original publica- 

 tion of the species. 



11. Zunulicardium, Miinst., 1840, ( Lunulacard'mm, Beitrrege zur Petrefact.- 

 Kunde, part iii, p. 69). This name has been proposed for a number of devonian 

 species, which in general aspect greatly resemble some species of Radula, fLima). 

 The shells are usvially higher than long, narrow near the hinge, and with a very 

 deeply excavated lunular (or areal) declivity, beaks pointed, close together, surface 

 radiately ribbed; type, L. semistriatuni, Miinster, (ibid, pi. xiii, fig. 9). I never 

 had an opportunity of examining any of the species called by Miinster Limuli- 

 cardium ; the hinge is not known, and I greatly suspect they will prove to be allied 

 to Badulcf, or some Mi'tilid^, though in external form they slightly resemble 

 some carbiinjE. 



h. Suh.famUy,—LYMNOCAIiBIIl\LE (see p. 205). 



12. Lymnocardium, Stol., 1870. Shell elongated, inequivalve, with the an- 

 terior side shorter, moderately inflated and rather thin, surface radiately ribbed, 

 cardinal teeth two, or one in each valve, small, and sometimes quite obsolete, lateral 

 teeth remote, more or less lamelliform, pallial line either entire or (rarely) sinuated, 

 posterior gape usually distinct. Type, Cm^d. Saueri* Homes, (Foss. Mollusken d. 

 Wien. Tert., vol. ii, p. 198, pi. 29, fig. 1). 



* This is, besides C. Schmidti (not Smidti), Snngaricum, Mayeri, ^c, Sfc, one of the species which Conrad quotes 

 (Am. Jour. Conch., 1866, vol. ii, p. 103,) under his genus Pseudocardia, the name of which the same author sub- 

 sequently (Am. Jour. Conch., 1868, iv, p. 246,) replaced by Vetocardia. When giving the characteristics of the latter, 

 he evidently refers solely to d'Orbigny's cretaceous Venericardice, but how it was possible to associate with these 

 forms the first named ones and others described by Homes from the uppermost tertiary beds of the Vienna (or rather 

 Hungarian) basin, it is really difficult to understand, and this the more when, after the enumeration of the species, we 

 find the following statement : " a genus which became e.xtinct in the upper cretaceous period" ! Such and similar in.stances 

 clearly show what value we can attach to those new generic propositions which Mr. Conrad makes with the simple 

 object of supporting the (presently) antiquated idea, that certain genera only occur in certain formations, and that with 

 a new formation new forms of life are introduced. The daily experience of the geologist in the field and in the 

 museum shows that the generalisation of such single facts is untenable, though these facts may be under certain condi- 

 tions quite correct by themselves. 



