2 26 SMITH : ON THE GENUS ASTARTE. 



(Mantissa, p. 546) cannot be identified with absolute certainty. 

 The characters will equally apply to more than one species of 

 Astartidae or Veneridse. Neither color, locality or size are 

 mentioned. Sylvanus Hanley appears to have first suggested 

 the possibility of its being a species of Astarte. In his valuable 

 work on the shells of Linnseus (p. 454) he observes — "The 

 unillustrated description is applicable to more than one shell, and 

 amongst others to a nearly mature specimen of Astarte elliptica." 

 This determination has subsequently been adopted by Jeffreys, 

 Packard, Morch and Sars. On the other hand Dr. Edward 

 Roemer* considers that .Linne's description is more applicable to 

 the Venus scalarina of Lamarck, of which the Linnean expression 

 (" Anus linearis, subexcisis, vulvce sUnillitnus ") is certainly more 

 descriptive than of the Astarte referred to. Considering this 

 divergence of opinion and the uncertainty that will ever prevail 

 regarding the determination of the shell Linne had before him, it 

 appears to me that his Venus compressa should be rejected as 

 undeterminable. 



15.— ASTARTE COMPACTA Carpenter. 



1863. A. (? compressa, var.) compacta, id. Suppl. Rep. 



Moll. W. Coast N. America, p. 602, 642 and 682. 

 1865. A. (? compressa, var.) compacta Carpenter. Proc. 



Bost. S©cr~NfrtHtfet., p. 57. 



Habitat. — Puget Sound. Washington, U.S. 



This species is saiS to be like compressa Mont, but compact, 

 less transverse, with fewer concentric lirae, almost obsolete 

 posteriorly : umbones very prominent and more acute ; dorsal 

 margins straight, at an angle of 100° ; lunule less impressed, 



* Kritische Untersuchung der Arten des Molluskengeschlechts Venus bei 

 Linne und Gmelin, p. 84, Cassel, 8vo., 1858. 



J.C, iii., October, 1881 



