232 
PALEONTOLOGY OF NEW YORK. 
Shells elongate-subtrigonal or subpentagonal in outline, strongly inequivalve, 
biconvex; median fold and sinus faint, if at all developed. Anterior margins 
of contact usually straight, with sometimes a faint fold, at others a low sinus 
on both valves. Surface with numerous sharp or rounded, simple or divided 
plications extending from beaks to margins; cardinal slopes broad and usually 
smooth. 
In the pedicle-valve the umbo is elevated, attenuated, more or less incurved, 
not prone upon the opposite valve. No cardinal area is developed. The del- 
thyrium is very broad and bears a concave deltidium, which, however, is fre¬ 
quently wanting. Teeth small, supported by convergent lamellae which unite in 
the interior cavity and form a single median vertical septum of variable length; 
in the typical species usually extending almost, and sometimes quite to the an¬ 
terior margin, and vertically, for fully one-half the depth of the combined valves. 
The spondylium is very narrow and deep; combined with the median septum 
the height of these plates equals fully two-thirds the depth of the valves. The 
anterior margins of these plates are doubly incurved, the most projecting points 
being at the base of the septum, and at its line of union with the dental lamellae. 
The median septum consists of two vertical lamellae, each continuous with one 
of the component plates of the spondylium. The spondylium was the seat of 
Fig. 167. Pentamerus [Conchidium)lKnighti, Sowerby. A transverse section in the umbonal region. 
s. Septum of the pedicle-valve. p. Dental plates forming ventral spondylium. 
s'. Septa of the brachial valve. b. Crural plates resting on the septa. (c ) 
Fig. 168. Conchidium laqueatus, Conrad. Transverse section, showing the dellection of the median septum, the 
deep, narrow spondylium of the pedicle-valve, and the septa of the brachial valve bearing inclined 
crural processes. (C.) 
muscular attachment, and it bears a series of fine radiating lines along its 
median portion, and transverse or concentric lines over its lateral slopes; the 
