85 
ASTARTE. 
VENUS Linn. Lam. 
Gen. Char. Suborbicular or transverse. Ligament 
external; a lunette in the posterior side ; two 
diverging teeth near the beak. 
T he shells of this Genus have three muscular impressions ; 
the cartilage on one side and the lunette on the other, 
together with the general; form, gives them a resemblance 
to those of the Linnean Genus, Venus. Their outsides 
have transverse undulations or reflected depressed costae, 
which give the surface a natural character, by which they 
maybe distinguished upon general inspection. Theiredges 
are mostly crenulated within. There is one tooth less in 
the hinge than in Venus ; the beaks are generally filled 
up, not hollow within under the teeth ; there is also com- 
monly an obscure elongated tooth at some distance from 
the beak under the lunette. Of this Genus there are seve- 
ral recent British species and many Foreign ones, all 
of which have hitherto been classed under Venus ; of the 
former are Venus Scotica, (which may be taken for the 
type of the Genus) V. sulcata, Danmoniae, paphia, fas- 
ciata, subcordata. It was not until I sought for the proper 
place in the system for the fossil species, that I perceived 
the necessity of making a new Genus, to which I have 
given the name of one of the Heathen Deities, sometimes 
styled Venus. 
ASTARTE lurida. 
TAB. C XXXVII. — Fig. 1. 
Spec. Char. Transversely oblong, convex, de- 
pressed, with many transverse undulations ; 
lunette elliptical, sharp ; margin crenulated 
within. 
A rather thick shell with a straightish front, and 
arched back, half as wide again as it is long. 
A blue sandy Clay in the Fox-hill quarries, Gloucester- 
