ASTARTE. 115 



The shallow pallial sinus shown in internal casts, and the characters of the hinge 

 seem to warrant the reference of this species to the sub-genus Eriphyla. 



Remarks. — Some of the specimens found in the Isle of Wight have the posterior 

 end rounded, but in the larger number it is more or less distinctly truncated. The 

 former approach A. Beaumonti ; the latter resemble A. transversa. I have not seen 

 any examples from the Isle of Wight which show the internal margin of the valve 

 sufficiently clearly to determine whether it is crenulate or not, but in an internal 

 cast from the Hythe Beds of Hythe (Museum of the Geological Society, No. 2187) 

 the crenulation is distinct. 



The specimens of A. obovata show a fairly large amount of variation. In some 

 the anterior part of the valve is quite short, as in Leymerie's figure of A. trans- 

 versa; in others it is much longer. The relative height and length, the amount 

 of rounding or truncation of the posterior margin, and the coarseness of the 

 ornamentation also vary. 



The specimens from the Hythe Beds of Hythe are very poorly preserved. 

 Those from the Greensand of Blackdown and Haldon appear, so far as one can tell 

 from the few perfect specimens available, to be rather shorter than most of the 

 Lower Greensand examples. 



Types. — The type cannot be found ; it came from the Pema-hed of Sandown. 



Distribution. — Lower Greensand (Pema-hed) of Atherfield and Sandown. 

 Recorded by Topley from the Atherfield Beds of Peasemarsh and Shalford, and 

 from the Hythe Beds of Hythe and Lympne. 



Upper Greensand (zone of Scldambachia rostrata) of Blackdown and Haldon. 



Astarte (Briphyla) l/evis (Phillips), 1829. Plate XVI, figs. 5-7. Plate XVII, 



fig. 1. 



1829. Crassina l^evis, J. Phillips. Geol. Yorks., p. 122, pi. ii, fig. 19 (? fig. 18). 

 1835. Astarte l^evis, Phillips. Ibid., ed. 2, pt, 1, p. 158 (ed. 3, 1879, p. 252). 

 1854. — /. Morris. Cat, Brit. Foss., ed. 2, p. 187. 



Prescription. — Shell large, thick, convex, ovate, usually considerably inequilateral ; 

 height and length nearly equal, or the height may be rather greater than the length 

 or vice versa. Antero-dorsal margin rather long and slightly concave; postero- 

 dorsal margin very long and moderately convex. Anterior and ventral margins 

 well rounded. Posterior extremity rounded or sometimes subangular. Umbones 

 large. Lunule large, ovate, deep, nearly smooth, with a sharp border. Escutcheon 

 narrow, deep. 



