VENUS caperata. 
TAB. DXVIII. —Jig. ]. 
Spec. Char. Orbicular, rather depressed,, covered 
with small, rounded, concentric ridges ; lu- 
nette cordiform, inconspicuous. 
A nearly lenticular shell, but rather most gibbose 
near the umbones ; the concentric ridges are numerous, 
sharply defined, rounded, and equal to the spaces be- 
tween them. The hinge has a large tooth under the 
lunette in one valve, and in the other a laminated tooth 
within the posterior slope, besides those under the beaks. 
These teeth occur also in other species, and will serve, 
if not to distinguish a genus, to characterize a section. 
Found replaced by silex on Blackdown many years 
ago by Miss Hill : the same has lately been observed by 
Mr. De la Beche in the vicinity of Lyme, along with 
the Gervillia (tab. 510.), in the lowest beds of the Green- 
sand, where, although not only the earthy part of the 
shell but also the fibrous portion of the ligament are 
still remaining in a firm stone, the individuals are fre- 
quently as much distorted as the casts of shells gene- 
rally are in the loose sand near Devizes. 
Figs. 1. and 3. represent Blackdown specimens; and 
fig. 2. is from a distorted one in the cabinet of H. T. De 
la Beche, Esq. — it shows a portion of the ligament. 
