SMITH : ON THE GENUS AST ARTE. 197 



the older A. sulcata of Da Costa, which species will consequently 

 stand as the type. Such being the case, Conrad* is wrong in 

 upholding the subsequent name Crassina of Lamarck, for the 

 recent species, and appropriating Astarte for the fossil forms. If 

 the latter described by Sowerby really have different hinge 

 characters from those of the living species, in my opinion Conrad 

 should have given a new generic name to them. But perhaps he 

 overlooked the above stated fact of Sowerby mentioning y^. scotica 

 as his type, or else he may not have seen the work at all. 



SYNONYMY OF THE GENUS. 



1816. Astarte J. Sowerby. Mineral Conchology, vol. ii.,p. 85. 



Type A. scotica. 



1817. Tridonta Schumacher. Essai Nouv. Syst. vers. test.,. 



p. 146. Type T. boreah's. ^ 



1818. Crassina Lamarck. Anim. Sans. Vert., vol. v., p. 554. 



1819. Nicania Leach. Ross's Voyage, Appendix, p. t^^. IxU- 

 1822. Goodallia Turton. Conch. Ins. Brit, p. 76. Type G. 



triangularis. 

 1827. Mactrina Brown. Illus. Conch. Gt. Brit. & Ireland, 



pi. xvi., f. 25. Type M. tria7igitlaris. 

 1872. Rictocyma Dall. American Jour. Conch., vol. vii., 



p. 151. Type i?. mirabilis. 



It is a matter of individual opinion whether the names 

 Goodallia and Rictocyma be adopted as subgeneric divisions, the 

 former for the minute smooth, ribless A. triangularis, and the 

 latter for those species having the concentric costse, especially 

 towards the umbones, more or less wavy. The subgenus Gonilia 

 of Stoliczka,t proposed for the Astarte hipartita of Philippi, is 



* American Jour. Conch., vol. \., p. 46. 

 t Mem. Geol. Survey India, vol. iii., Paleont. Indica, 1871, p. 278. 



