226 PROCEEDINGS OF THE CALIFORNIA 



Description of a New Species of Mangelia, from California. 



BY ROBERT E. C. STEARNS. 



Mangelia interlirata, Stearns. Shell of a dark reddish brown, small, solid, 

 slender, fusiform ; whorls, eight, prominently sculptured with 8-10 strong longi- 

 tudinal and 10-12 thread-like revolving ribs, the latter of a darker shade and 

 meeting, but not crossing the former : aperture linear, less than half the length 

 of the shell ; outer lip simple, somewhat thickened, externally and posteriorly, 

 slightly notched ; number of specimens, four, of which two are measurably 

 perfect. The dimensions of the largest is 



Lons. -27 ; Lat. -09 inch. 



Habitat, Monterey, California, where the above specimens were found dead on 

 the beach by Mr. Harford and myself. 



A larger and more perfect specimen than either of the four above mentioned, 

 also from Monterey, was given by me to Dr. Cooper, in 1865, for the State 

 Museum, but does not appear to have been described by him. I think that the 

 same form, which is quite rare, has been detected at San Diego by Mr. Hemp- 

 bill, but am not positive. It is with some difSdence that I place it in Mangelia, 

 although it seems to accord exceedingly well with the typical figure M. striola- 

 1a, of Schacchi. (Vide Adams's Gen. pi. 10, fig. 10a.) 



M. Octave Pavy was introduced by Dr. A. B. Stout, who pre- 

 sented the introductory letter from the American Geographical 

 Society, of New York. 



The President invited him to present his views of the polar 

 regions, and the means by which he proposed to reach the pole. 

 To aid the explanation, a large chart of the whole polar region had 

 been prepared. 



M. Pavy gave a succinct account of the different attempts to 

 reach the pole in the search for a northwest passage. The routes 

 for these undertakings had nearly all been to the east of the 

 American continent ; but he was about entering a passage hitherto 

 untried. He announced his belief in an open polar basin existing 

 throughout the year ; that this basin was surrounded by a belt of 

 ice, which was the real and hitherto unconquered difficulty to pro- 

 gress ; and that he proposed to penetrate this belt by discovering a 

 channel traversed by a warm current from the south. Of the six 

 entrances to the polar basin, those lying between America and 

 Europe were impracticable ; because, beyond certain latitudes pow- 

 erful currents were encountered, sweeping down from the north 

 and bringing great drifts of ice through which a ship could not 

 penetrate. But that through Behring strait a warm current flowed 



