CYPRINA (VENILICAEDIA?) ABEIHENSIS. 45 



From figure 3 b, which is accurately drawn, the cast would seem to be 

 inequivalve. Careful inspection, however, leads to the conclusion, that a 

 force acting from above has depressed the righl beak and pushed it into 

 contact with the left, — the two originally having been somewhat separated 

 in the cast. It is probable that the complete shell — which the deep mus- 

 cular and pallial impressions show to have been thick — was equivalve, and 

 that the beaks were closely approximate, if not actually contiguous. 



This species resembles in some degree the Cretaceous C. intermedia d'Orb., 

 ami ('. Valangiensis Pict. and Camp., though distinct from both. Possibly it 

 may be identical with Isocardia cremlaia Conrad (Official Report, p. 215, 

 PI. iv, fig. 26), described from " casts, all more or less distorted," of which the 

 author furthermore says, " The figure represents the original form as nearly 

 as I could restore it." Neither the description nor the figure applies with 

 any certainty to the specimen here considered. 



Fraas (Aus dem Orient, I. Theil, p. 94) regards Isocardia crenuMa Conrad 

 as being Cyprina inornata d'Orb. Our cast is certainly distinct from C. in- 

 ornata. Coll. Merrill. 



Loculily and Position. — Beirut district; probably from the zone of the 

 Cardium bed. 



Cyprina (Venilicardia Abeihensis, Bp. nov. 



Plate IV, figs. SS a, 1>, c. 



Testa iriynno-euneutu, cram'irmila, incequilateralis, tumidaj antke ad marginem 



t rimum 

 cur 



lunularem leviter insinuata et infra breviter rotundata: margo dorsi posticus pn 



rvatus deinde rectttineus et rapide declivis ; extremitas posiica subcaudata et oblique 

 truncata : margo ventris arcuaius et pone vixfiexuosus : umbones subterminales, angu- 

 lnli, acuti, contigui, antrorsum ruble inflexi; lunula fere plana, nisi supra viz exca- 

 vata, verticaUter rotundato-ehngaia, margine acuto circumscripta : urea cardinalis 

 lanceolaia, profunda, carinis subacutis terminaia ; extra carinas area planata a lateri- 

 bus anguh obtuso obliquo disjuncta: superficies concentrice ienereque striata, strns 

 nonnullis increments fortioribus lamellisque sen varicibus circiter octo apud umbones 

 instructa: cardo, ut mini mdetw», deittibus tribus primariis et certe in valva dex- 

 tra uno later aU, postico, ehngato, recto armatus : impressiones muscuhres evidentes, 

 kaud profunda} : margo interims tenuis, non vero crenulatus. 



Shell cuneiform-triangular, moderately thick, inequilateral, tumid; in front 

 at the lunular margin lightly sinuate and below abruptly rounded : hinder 

 dorsal margin at lirst curved, thru rectilinear and rapidly sloping; posterior 



