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TERTIARY FAUNA OF FLORIDA 



Astarte monroensis O. Meyer, Ber. Senckenb. Ges., 1887, p. 10, pi. ii., fig. 6; Gregorio, 



op. cit.j p. 201, 1890, pi. xxvii., figs. 32-33. 

 Astarte {Micromeris) subparva O. Meyer, op. cit., p. 11, pt. ii., fig. 5, 1887; Gregorio, 



op. cit., p. 201, pi. xxvii., fig. 20, 1890. 



Claibornian Eocene of Claiborne, Monroe County, Alabama; Lea, Meyer, 

 Burns, et al. 



The type of this group is a little shell with concentric sculpture and crenu- 

 late inner margin ; several other recent Australian species are included with 

 it. I have a recent species with strong radial ribs, from Japan, not yet de- 

 scribed, and the present species from the Eocene of Alabama. Tate also men- 

 tions a specimen from the Australian Tertiary. In the hinge of this group the 

 resilium is rounded and just below the cardinal margin, which is often marked 

 by a minute fissure just above it, though I do not feel sure that this is not due 

 to breakage in opening the shell. It occurs in most but not all the fossil speci- 

 mens. Below the resilium is a thin, imperfectly developed posterior cardinal 

 in the right valve, and in front of that a large more or less bifid tooth. The 

 anterior lateral margin is grooved to receive the edge of the opposite valve, 

 and the edge just in front of the beak is curved, thickened, and a little elevated 

 in C. parvus, indicating a feeble anterior cardinal, sometimes obsolete. In the 

 left valve there are two well-marked cardinals, the anterior of which is feebly 

 grooved and the posterior margin where it curves around the resilium is thick- 

 ened and slightly elevated, denoting an obsolete posterior cardinal. From 

 Hedley's excellent figures it is evident that the correspondence of the parts of 

 the hinge is nearly exact. From Micromeris the group differs by having the 

 lateral grooves one on each valve, instead of both on one valve, and also by 

 the resilium being situated above and behind the posterior right cardinal, in- 

 stead of in front of it. After an examination of the types I quite agree with 

 Cossmann in uniting Meyer's two species with that of Lea, of which they 

 appear to be mutations. 



Conrad for a time, judging by Lea's figures alone, united this with Lea's 

 Crassinella minor; but this was an error, which he corrected in 1866. 



Family ASTARTID^. 



This group is of very recent differentiation, and previous to the Cretaceous 

 could not well have been separated from the CrassatellitidcB, from which it 

 now differs chiefly by its wholly external ligament and resilium. The Cre- 

 taceous Eryphyla, apparently ancestral to the group called Crassinella, has its 

 ligament external, yet it is obviously closer to the Crassatellites type by its 



