- 558 THE PALEONTOLOGY OF MINNESOTA. ,. >, „ ,» » 



[Vanuxemia haynlana. 



hinge line nearly straight, rather long, terminating subangularly behind; posterior 

 margin broadly rounded, slightly oblique, generally forming, with the basal margin 

 a semicircle drawn to a diameter but little shorter than the length of the shell, and 

 equalling the greatest hight; anterior end projecting very little beyond the beaks, 

 nicely rounded from the end of the hinge, sloping backward -in tbe lower half and 

 passing very 'gradually into the basal line. Beaks only moderately prominent, 

 strongly incurved, approximate; umbones full, uniformly convex to the beginning 

 of the faintly concave dorsal and posterior slopes. Surface marked with more or 

 less obscure and unequal concentric lines, some of them often,, especially near the 

 margin of old shells, being of a strongly lamellose character. 



Hinge of moderate strength, the plate varying between 2 and 3 mm. in width at 

 the middle in adult specimens; about half of the width taken up by a long and very 

 finely lined ligamental area. Posterior lateral teeth constantly three in each valve, 

 nearly straight, ranging at an angle of about 40° with the hinge line. Cardinal teeth 

 varying in number and size. As a rule they are at least 10° more oblique than the 

 posterior ones, and normally of nearly equal size, finely toothed or striated and three 

 in each valve. The variations are evidently due to irregularity of development, 

 Earely there are two large ones with a small one on each side; more commonly one. 

 two, or even all three will be divided, so that the total number may reach six. 

 Anterior muscular scar sharply defined, semicircular; posterior scar ovate, as usual 

 very faintly impressed; pallial line quite distinct, except in the posterior part. 

 Umbonal cavity small,, compressed; anterior internal thickening of the valves gen- 

 ' erally rather sharply defined on the inner side. . 



Casts of the interior, the only condition in which the species has been found in 

 Minnesotia, have small compressed pointed and scarcely incurved beaks, projecting 

 slightly beyond the hinge line and situated farther behind the anterior extremity of 

 the shell than is the case on the exterior. The ridge immediately behind the 

 anterior fiattening or sulcus is well marked, as is also the pallial line and the ante- 

 rior muscular scar. Indeed the natural casts correspond exactly with artificial ones 

 prepared from typical Tennessee and Kentucky specimens of the species. 



This js a widely distributed and well marked form, about which a number of 

 closely related species or varieties are grouped. One of thesp, V. subrotunda, occurs 

 in Minnesota, but in lower beds than the typical form. It is distinguished by its 

 more circular outline. Another, V. abrupta, from the Galena of Fillmore county, is 

 more easily separated by its more nearly terminal beaks, very obtuse anterior side, 

 thinner shell, and in wanting the ridge which marks the casts of V. hayniana. A 

 third form is found in the upper Trenton of Kentucky. Being a smaller shell I 

 called it nana {Cypricardites nanus Ulrich, 1892. Nineteenth Ann. Rep. Geol. and Nat. 



