OE SOUTHEEN INDIA. 191 



typical Veniella appears rather constant in all the species from various formations, 

 but it seems hardly sufficient to base a generic character upon ; I shall^ therefore, 

 retain it as a sub-genus only. 



Thus comparing the characters of the various forms of Veniella with those 

 of Glossus, or Meiocardia and Cardiodonta^ the differences are readily seen; 

 all the shells, no doubt, belong to the same type, but the arrangement and 

 form of the cardinal teeth present remarkable and constant distinctions. I will 

 particularly mention Glossocardia, because its upper cardinal teeth are almost 

 identical with those of Veniella, but while the antero-inferior tooth of the left 

 valve of the last genus is horizontally prolonged and flexuous, the same tooth is 

 in Glossocardia r'ecurved downwards towards itself, resembling that of the recent 

 Gallocardia; and again the corresponding tooth of the right valve is in Veniella 

 always elongated and attenuated in front, while in Glossocardia it is tubercular, 

 separated anteriorly from the margin by a deep groove. 



Veniella forms, as regards shape, a transition from Trapezium and Glossus to 

 Cyprina; the only difference being that in the latter there is a separate tooth 

 present in place of the sickle-shaped end of the supero-posterior tooth of the right 

 valve of Veniella, 



Conrad (Am. Journ Conch., vol. ii, 1866, p. 103,) says of Veniella, ^^a genus r^ 

 unknown in the tertiary." From what I have already stated, it is unnecessary to 

 say that Mr. Conrad's statements in confining certain genera to certain forma- 

 tions have no foundation whatever. Veniella,, as restricted, and the sub-genus 

 Anisocardia, (and probably also VenilicardiaJ , certainly occur in strata from the 

 jurassics up to the upper tertiaries and have their analogue among recent shells in 

 Meiocardia, Gallocardia, and Glossocardia, 



13. Goniosoma, Con., 1869, (Am. Jour, Conch., v, p. 43). Shell sub-quadran- 

 gular, moderately tumid, angular along the region from the beak to the infero- 

 posterior end; muscular impressions marginal, pallial line — ? hinge in the 

 right valve with two prominent cardinal teeth and a long anterior lateral, parallel 

 with the hinge margin; type G, inflata, Con., from cretaceous rocks of New 

 Jersey. The external form of this shell resembles Veniella, but the hinge appears 

 to be very different. 



14. Cyprina, Lam., 1812. Shell more or less inflated, cordate, with the 

 valves uniformly convex, or along the posterior margin carinated, ligament external 

 placed in a longitudinal groove and supported by more or less thickened fulcra ; each 

 valve with three cardinal and one posterior lateral tooth ; in the right there is a 

 strong, generally bifid posterior cardinal tooth, and two anterior cardinals placed 

 somewhat obliquely one above the other and connected by a low rido'e; both 

 these teeth are highest posteriorly and attenuate anteriorly, and a slio'ht rido^e 

 which continues in the latter direction bounds above and below an obliquely 

 extending groove ; in the left valve we have a long and thin posterior cardinal tooth 

 and two anterior, placed almost side by side ; the first (or middle) one is pyramidal 

 and laterally compressed, being stretched in a more or less vertical direction ; the 



