217 
VENUS rustica. 
TAB. CXCVI. 
Spec, Char. Sub-orbicular, gibbose, smooth ; an- 
terior side obscurely defined, convex ; a thick 
lateral tooth within the anterior slope. 
V oung shells of this species are nearly orbicular, if we 
may judge from the strong lines of growth, with a slight 
depression to distinguish the anterior side : as they ad- 
vance in age they become rather more transverse. The 
hinge of the right valve is furnished with two thick teeth, 
which are united at their upper parts, and one elongated 
lamellar tooth ; these three are placed near the beak : at 
a distance from the beak on the anterior side is another 
tooth ; it is short, thick, and blunt. The lunette is cor- 
date, obtuse, and not distinctly marked out. 
The above description is taken from a single valve : 
it appears to be a full grown shell, and has been distorted 
in the latter part of its growth, as old shells frequently 
are, so as to make it oblong, and give it a tumid edge. 
There are marks of a Flustra that once covered its 
surface still remaining upon it. Its being strong and 
rather clumsy in its form has suggested its name. 
I am indebted to the Rev. Mr. Lambert, whose 
name I have had occasion formerly to mention, for the 
use of the specimen ; he obtained it from the Crag pits 
of — Woolnough, Esq. at Hollesley, Suffolk. I do not 
consider it properly arranged as a Venus; but until some 
necessary divisions are made in that Genus, and in Lu- 
cina, to which it belongs more properly, it must remain 
there. 
