162 Transactions. — Zoology. 



The total number of species observed in the district is 242. 

 Of these, 37 are land Mollusca; 12 fluviatile ; and the remaming 

 193 marine. They fall in the following classes : — Cephalopoda, 

 3; Gasti'opoda, 177; Lamellibranchiata, 61; Brachiopoda, 1. 

 Further search will probably add materially to the number of 

 land-shells, for they have not been collected with the same care 

 as the other families. Our land Mollusca are so small and 

 inconspicuous, and so many of the species closely resemble one 

 another, that it is no easy matter to exhaust a small district like 

 the Auckland Isthmus. I do not anticipate that any additions 

 of numerical importance will be made to the marine or fluviatile 

 species, although discoveries will doubtless be made from time 

 to time. 



If the necessary material had been collected, it would have 

 been interesting to have compared the molluscan fauna of the 

 Auckland District with that of similar areas in other portions of 

 the Colony, and to have worked out some general results as to 

 the range of the species. But this cannot be done at present. 

 Wellington is the only other locality for which a tolerably com- 

 plete list has been prepared, and even there the marine species 

 are alone catalogued. When carefully compiled lists have been 

 published for at least a dozen stations on the coast line of both 

 Islands, then the distribution of our Mollusca will be better 

 understood, and some advance may be made towards deter- 

 mining the range and relative frequency of the species. 



Catalogue of the Species of Mollusca observed in the 

 Vicinity of Auckland. 



Class I.— CEPHALOPODA. 



Order I.— DEBRANCHIATA. 



Octopodidse. 



1. Octopus maoriim, Hutton. Hiding in crevices of rocks at 



or below low water-mark. North Shore, and Raugitoto 

 Island. 



Loliginidse. 



2. Sepioteuthis bilineata, Quoy et Gaim. An occasional summer 



visitant. 



Spirulidae. 



3. Spinda perouii, Lam. Dead shells are occasionally cast up 



on the sandy beaches, although never so plentifully as on 

 the exposed coasts. 



