FREE INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE 



TERTIARY FAUNA OF FLORIDA 



993 



Semele purpurascens Gmelin. 

 Venus purpurascens Gmelin, Syst. Nat., vi., p. 3288, No, 91, 1792; Morch, Cat. Yoldi, ii., 



p. 16, 1853 (after Lister, pi. 303-304, figs. 144, 145, and Klein, Tent. Ostr., p. 157, pi. ii., 



fig. 57). 

 Tcllina ohliqua Wood, Gen. Conch., p. 152, pi. 41, figs. 4, 5, 1815; Dillwyn, Descr. Cat. 



Rec. Shells, i., p. 78, 1817. 

 Amphidesma variegata Lamarck, An. s. Vert., v., p. 490, i8i8; Sowerby, Gen. Sh., pt. 9, 



fig. I, 1821 ; Orbigny, Moll. Cuba, ii., p. 239, 1853. 

 Amphidesma obliqua Reeve, Conch. Icon. Amphidesma, pi. i., figs. S a, b, 1853. 

 Semele purpurascens Morch, Cat. Yoldi, ii., p. 16, 1853 ; Krebs, Cat., p. 106, 1864 ; Arango, 



Moll. Cuba, p. 246, 1878; Morch, Poulsen Cat. W. L Shells, p. 14, 1878; Krebs, Cat., 



p. 106, 1864; not of Sowerby, Reeve, or Lamarck. 

 Semele ornata Gould, Otia Conch., p. 239, 1862; Tryon, Am. Mar. Conch., p. 155, 1874 



(young shell). 

 ? Scmclc formosum Krebs (as of Sowerby), Cat., p. 106, 1864; not of Sowerby. 



Pliocene of the Caloosahatchie beds, Florida, Dall ; of Costa Rica, Gabb ; 

 Pleistocene of Santo Domingo, Gabb; living in the Western Atlantic from 

 North Carolina to Rio Janeiro. 



This fine species has had a variety of names, but Morch's identification of 

 it with Gmelin's Venus purpurascens appears to be correct. The Amphidesma 

 purpurascens of Lamarck, however, was founded on ErvUia nitens and the 

 species so named by Reeve in the Iconica is distinct from the present one. 



Semele bellastriata Conrad. 

 Amphidesma bellastriata Conrad, Journ. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., vii., p. 239, pi. xx., fig. 4, 



1837; Bull. Nat. Inst., ii., p. 192, 1842. 

 Amphidesma cancellata Orbigny, Moll. Cuba., ii., p. 241, pi. 25, figs. 42-44, 1853 ( ? not of 



Sowerby, 1853). 

 Semele nexilis Gould, Otia Conch., p. 238, 1862; Tryon, Am. Mar. Conch., p. 155, 1874; 



Dall, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., vi., p. 338, 1883. 

 Semele cancellata Dall, Bull. No. 27, U. S. Nat. Mus., p. 62, 1889. 

 Semele lata Adams, Bush, Trans. Conn. Acad., vi., part 2, p. 476, 1885. 



Pliocene of the Caloosahatchie River and Shell Creek, Florida, Dall and 

 Willcox; living in the Western Atlantic and Antillean region from Cape 

 Hatteras, North Carolina, south to Cape San Roque, Brazil, in moderate 

 depths of water. 



This elegant little shell was described by Conrad among Nuttall's Californian 

 shells, and consequently the name has been overlooked. A careful coinparison 

 of Pliocene and recent specimens shows a practical identity of character, the 



