The first of the series of papers upon the Mollusca of the Alum Bluff group covered the orders of the Prionodesmacea and the Anomalodesmacea. The Mollusca were by the beginning of Miocene time so far advances in development that the great majority are included under the highest of the three orders, the Teleodesmacea, characterized in the adult stages by the differentiation of the hinge teeth into distinct cardinals and laterals. This paper, the second of the series, covers the most primitive of the Teleodesmacea in the Alum Bluff group. All three of the superfamilies considered - the Astartacea, the Carditaeea, and the Chamacea-are included under Dall's group of the Diogenodonta, which is characterized in the normal forms by one or two laterals and not more than three cardinals. The Carditacea are very closely related to the Astartacea in hinge armature but differ in the development of a pronounced radial sculpture. The Chamacea have until recently been considered an offshooting group from the Carditacea that have been greatly modified by their sessile habit. Some doubt has been thrown upon this relationship by the late morphologic studies of Odhner.
