EROH THE INFERIOR OOLITE. 527 



Astarte elegajsts, var. mttnda. Plate XIX. fig. 4. 



Shell large, transverse, moderately convex. Umbo small, in- 

 curved, rounded, prominent, and situated at one quarter of the 

 diameter from the anterior margin. Lunule small and extremely 

 deep. Inferior margin slightly convex ; anterior and posterior very 

 much so, the anterior side being much smaller than the posterior 

 one. Shell-substance massive. Surface covered by about forty-five 

 prominent, rounded, transverse ridges, which unite in sets of three 

 or four near the lunule, and are separated by concavities of the same 

 size as the ridges. 



Size of the closed shell 21 lines long, 27 wide, and 10 deep. 



There are two specimens of this fine shell in my collection from 

 Hardington, near Yeovil. It is so unlike ordinary specimens of 

 A. elegans, even when they approach its size, in the greater round- 

 ness and irregularity of its ribs as well as in being a flatter shell, 

 that I am much inclined to regard it as a distinct species. From 



A. detrita, Goldf., t. 134. fig. 13, it differs through its fiatness and 

 the number of its ribs. 

 Astarte vaginalis. 



1857. Astarte cordiformis, Lycett, Cottes. Hills, p. 126. 



Lycett's name for this species from the ParJdnsoni-be&s of Eod- 

 boroug hrequires to be changed, as Deshayes had before used the 

 same name for a different shell. He describes it as shorter and more 

 tumid than A. rhomboidalis (Ph.), and destitute of plications. 



Astarte stteflata, Eom. Plate XVIII. figs. 15, 15 a, 16, 16 a. 



1842. Astarte sufflata, F. Homer, De Ast. Gen. t. 1. fig. 5. 



1849. A. cordiformis, D'Orb., Prodr. vol. i. sect. 10, no. 281 (pars). 



1867. A. sufflata, Laube, Bivalven von Balin, p. 36. 



Shell thick, orbicular, very convex, slightly broader than long. 

 Umbones very prominent, compressed, rounded, proximate, and 

 slightly anterior. Lunule and escutcheon indistinct. Margin rather 

 concave in front of umbo, otherwise convex, rather produced at the 

 posterior basal angle. Surface rounded, covered with about twenty- 

 four flatfish inverted ridges (so as to give a saw-like section with 

 teeth facing apex). Just behind the central line of the valve spring 

 a corresponding number of grooves, dividing each ridge into two un- 

 equally high parts. Hinge-line curved. Teeth on the left valve 

 distant and short, there being a wide central groove between them. 

 Edges with coarse dentations within. 



Length 7 lines, breadth 7, depth 6. 



Whether Eomer is justified in separating this shell from A. cordi- 

 formis, Desh. Enc. Meth. vol. ii. p. 80, on account of the obscurity 

 of its lunule and escutcheon, seems an open question. In its even 

 surface-markings, though like some recent shells, it differs from any 

 other Oolitic forms with which I am acquainted. 



There are four specimens in the British Museum from Dundry, 

 and three in the Bristol Museum labelled " Hampton Common." I 



