FREE INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE 



965 



TERTIARY FAUNA OF FLORIDA 



> Chion Scopoli, op. cit., p. 398, 1777. Type Donax denticulata L. 

 Donax Bolten, Mus. Bolt, p. 173, 1798; ed. ii., p. 128, 1819. 

 Donax Lamarck, Prodrome, p. 85, 1799. Type D. trunculus L. 



> Capisteria Meuschen, Mus. Gevers., p. 462, 1787. 

 Donax Megerle, Entw. Neuen Syst., pp. 49, 50, i8ii. 



]> Donax Schumacher, Essai, p. 144, 1817. Type D. rtigosa L. 



> Hecuba Schumacher, Essai, p. 157, 1817. Type D. scortum L. 

 ^ Latona Schumacher, Essai, p. 156, 1817. Type D. cuneata L. 



> Serrula Morch, Cat. Yoldi, ii., p. 18, 1853. Type D. trunculus (L.) Hanley. 

 ^Cuneus Gray, List Brit. An., Moll., p. 46, 1851. Type C. vittatus Da Costa. 



'y- CapscUa Gray, op. cit., p. 47, 1851. Type Donax politus F. and H.^Tellina violacea 

 Meuschen. 



> Capisteria Gray, P. Z. S., 1847, p. 187 ; after Meuschen. 



^ MachcBVodonax Roemer, Conchyl. Cab., x., p. yj, 1870. Type D. scalpellum Gray; 

 Zool. Rec, 1870, p. 172. 



> Liodonax Fischer, Man. de Conchyl., p. 1102, 1887. 



y PeroncEoderma Morch, Cat. Yoldi., ii., p. 12, 1853 {T. polita Poli). 



Though SO simple and compact a genus, an unusual number of names have 

 been applied to different members of it, and the disentanglement of the syn- 

 onymy is not without difficulty. 



The original Donax of Linne was heterogeneous, containing a Sunetta and 

 a Venerupis among the six identifiable species. Da Costa's Cuneus was a 

 similar assembly, a substitution for rather than a dismemberment of the Lin- 

 nean group, and may be regarded as a strict synonym of Donax L. Scopoli 

 was the first to divide the genus, but unfortunately named no type for his 

 restricted Donax. Bolten's Donax was purged of extraneous forms. La- 

 marck was the first to name a type, D. trunculus, in 1799, and in his selection 

 he followed the Linnean rule of taking the " commonest, best known, or 

 officinal species." 



The name Serrula, applied by Chemnitz to D. rugosa and D. trunculus, was 

 not used in a generic sense, but was merely a translation of the vernacular name 

 of " Saw-shell" applied by some collectors to these species on account of their 

 serrate margin. Megerle, in 181 1, followed Bolten, but named no type. Du- 

 meril (Zool. Anal., p. 335, 1806) changed Donax into Donaciarius in pursu- 

 ance of his fad for terminations in us; but Schumacher was the first, after 

 Scopoli, to attempt a subdivision of the true Donaces, which was, unfortu- 

 nately, chiefly based on trivial or misinterpreted characters. Fischer in 1887 

 violated the rules of nomenclature by proposing to include a number of groups 

 already named under a wholly new designation. I have not been able to get 



