566 



PAPERS READ. 



ON THE CORRECT HABITAT OF PATELLA KERMA- 

 DECEKSIS, PILSBRY. 



By John Brazier, F.L.S., C.M.Z.S. 



At the Meeting of this Society held on April 25th last, I read 

 a short communication on a certain large Patella said to be from 

 the Kermadec Islands, which from the presence of two adherent 

 specimens of a second Patella (unfortunately in a very bad state 

 of preservation, but allied to if not identical with the South 

 African P. cochlear, Born), I was led to believe to be the P. kerma- 

 decensis of Pilsbry said to be from the same locality. 



At the June Meeting Mr. Hedley stated that he had l^een 

 informed by a New Zealand collector that P. kcrmadecends had 

 been found at Raoul or Sunday Island, by Captain Fairchild's 

 party. 



In reply to that statement I again upheld my conviction at the 

 following Meeting for the reason above stated. Since then I have 

 been able to see Mr. Percy Smith's pamphlet " The Kermadec 

 Islands; their capabilities and extent" (Wellington, 1887), on pp. 

 26 and 27 of which will be found a description of Macauley 

 Island, one of the Kermadec Group, with the following reference : 

 " The quantity of fish and crabs in the rocky pools on the shore 

 and the number of large limpets (as tig as small saucers, and 

 good eating) would serve as food for a length of time to any cast- 

 away here." 



I have, therefore, arrived at the conclusion that the shell 

 referred to in the foregoing extract is none other than the species 

 under consideration for the following reasons : — 



1. It is unlikely that a gigantic Patella such as this would 

 have been overlooked by such collectors as Mr. John Macgillivray 

 and other residents on Raoul or Sunday Island for many years. 



2. That we have no authentic record of its occurrence on that 

 island. 



3. That the only shell which answers to the description from 

 these seas is that referred to by Mr. S. Percy Smith from 

 Macauley Island. 



