ioo ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY 



SUPPLEMENT TO DAWSON'S " MOLLUSCA OF 

 ABERDEEN AND THE NEIGHBOURING SEA." 



By JAMES SIMPSON. 



A QUARTER of a century has now elapsed since the late 

 Robert Dawson of Cruden communicated a paper to the 

 Aberdeen Natural History Society on the " Mollusca of 

 Aberdeen and the Neighbouring Sea." This admirable list 

 was afterwards published by the Society, and is still of great 

 use and value to those who take an interest in the distri- 

 bution of our marine fauna. 



Since the commencement of the trawling industry at 

 Aberdeen thirteen years ago, a number of new species and 

 varieties have been added to the list, chiefly from fishing- 

 grounds sixty to a hundred miles off, which grounds Dawson 

 was unable to reach. 



Great caution must be exercised as to what one records 

 as being found off Aberdeenshire, owing to the fact that the 

 trawl and great line-fishing boats pursue their industry 

 from Iceland on the one hand to the Dogger Bank on 

 the other. For example, Buccinum nndatum, var. zetlandica, 

 Buccinum humpkreysianum, Fnsns islandicus^ and others, have 

 been from time to time found at Aberdeen. These can in 

 no way be called local species. These remarks apply equally 

 to other marine species, both vertebrate and invertebrate. 



To make my supplement as complete as possible, I 

 have looked through current literature, and also obtained 

 records from other local collectors. To the latter my thanks 

 are due. 



My best thanks are also accorded to Mr. Marshall of 

 Torquay for his unfailing courtesy in naming any species or 

 variety about which I was in doubt ; and to Mr. Herbert 

 Howell for the ready way in which he supplied me with 

 information regarding localities of any species he brought 

 into port. 



In the matter of names I have here followed Jeffrey's 

 " British Conchology " in preference to Canon Norman's later, 

 but not so well known, nomenclature. 



