NOTE ON SOME POST-PLIOCENE MOLLUSCS PROM THE BYCULLA FLATS. 193 



specimens, marked No. 8, shows how prominent some of these excre- 

 scences are, and how easily in consequence they might be knocked off. 



I think, from the very large number of the tubes now to be found 

 loose on the Byculla Flats, that the animals inhabiting those tubes 

 actually lived in the soil of which the Flats are composed, and that if 

 we dug further down we should come upon their lower ends. But 

 of course it is possible that the fragments of tube now found on the 

 Flats were only washed in from outside, and that the lower ends are 

 still sticking, head downwards, in some other soil. The fact that 

 we have only found upper ends as yet on the Flats lends colour to this 

 theory. The two specimens, marked No. 9, however still show the 

 sort of soil in which to look for the animal. These are evidently 

 lumps of clay, though now considerably indurated, through which, 

 while soft, the creatures which inhabited these tubes were working 

 their way. 



Bearing this in mind, and remembering the description of their 

 habitat as given by Mr. Griffiths, I would recommend careful search 

 to be made in those sheltered bays and creeks, which so abound in the 

 neighbourhood of Bombay, with muddy bottoms over which the tide 

 flows with no great violence to a height of from 6 to 15 feet. If once 

 we can find their home, there will be no lack of specimens, for the 

 abundance of remains on the Byculla Flats shows that, in numbers at 

 least, they are not deficient. A large capture of living specimens 

 would probably be attended with important results to science gene- 

 tally. It would certaiuly be a valuable addition to the best collections 

 in England, and would reflect great credit on this Society. It will 

 however be necessary to remember that as all that glitters is not gold, 

 so every tube is not a Kuphus. Here is a small group of specimens, 

 marked No. 10, which are the tubes of Dentalia, also very common on 

 the Byculla Flats. One you see, comparatively modern, is hardly 

 altered at all ; but the others from their appearance might be coeval 

 with the oldest and most altered of the specimens of Kuphus to which 

 I have introduced you. The Dentalia, you will remember, are the crea- 

 tures referred to by Clark in propounding his theory that " Teredo is the 

 passage between Lamellibranchs and Gasteropoda." They also are very 

 interesting creatures, because, if Gasteropod at all, they are very 

 exceptional members of that order* Huxley regards them as 

 Pteropods. They constitute a very lowly-organised group without 

 distinct gills or heart and with a but imperfectly developed head. The 

 slender tubular shell, as you see from these specimens, is curved, 



