PANAMIC-PACIFIC PELECYPODA 13 



the cliffs behind Paita) which they compared with the Calcaire Grossier 

 of the Paris Basin. Fossils collected by this group were later described by 

 D'Orbigny. The next French ship to visit Paita was the La Bonite which 

 arrived there on July 25th, 1836. On this vessel, Messrs. Eydoux and 

 Souleyet served as zoologists and Chevalier as geologist. Chevalier explored 

 the environs of Paita and gave the first correct description of the 

 geology accompanied by a structural section. He considered the capping 

 tablazo limestones as much younger than the Calcaire Grossier and com- 

 pared it rather with the falaise of Touraine and with Pampean formation 

 of Buenos Aires. After leaving Paita, the La Bonite touched in at Santa 

 Elena in Ecuador and then sailed for the Sandwich Islands. Due to the 

 death of Eydoux at Martinque in 1841 of yellow fever, the description of 

 the La Bonite mollusks has remained unfinished. 



Roughly of the same date as the La Bonite, is the voyage of HMS 

 Sulphur, an English ship commanded at first by Commander Kellett and 

 afterwards by Captain Sir Edward Belcher, the latter taking a particular 

 interest in the collecting of shells in which he was assisted by Richard B. 

 Hinds, the ship's surgeon. After a visit to Callao and Paita, the Sulphur 

 began a survey of the coast from the Gulf of Guayaquil northward to 

 Panama. Dredging was carried on in the Gulf of Guayaquil with gratifying 

 results ("we on one occasion spent a forenoon in the Bay of Guayaquil in 

 using the dredge, and the results gave upwards of fifty species, and at other 

 times, I have repeatedly enumerated between twenty and thirty species 

 from a single cast"). It is reported that the cabin of Captain Belcher soon 

 became so filled with marine products as to take on the aspects of a museum. 

 The many new species discovered on the voyage of the Sulphur were after- 

 wards described in a special work devoted to the zoology of the voyage, 

 the author of the names given to the mollusks was Hinds. Since the Sulphur 

 dredged in waters of moderate depth and often some distance from shore, 

 many special species were discovered which have remained rare to the 

 present-day. 



By now, Panama had become known for its many fine shells, and its 

 location as a transhipment point between the Atlantic and Pacific made it 

 a convenient stop-over for travellers, some of wham brought back shells. 

 This was true in particular during the late 40ths and 50ths when traffic 

 across the isthmus was greatly augmented by miners and adventurers 

 enroute to the newly discovered gold fields in California. During this 

 period, several collectors visited Panama, the most important being Colonel 

 Ezekiel Jewett who had served under General Scott in the Mexican wars. 

 Jewett spent ten weeks in Panama in the early part of 1849 or about two 

 years ahead of the visit there of C.B. Adams. Afterwards he collected in 

 California and at Acapulco and Mazatlan. It is reported that Jewett's 

 collection of Panama shells was large but as a result of an almost continuous 

 change of residence along with the transmission of specimens for identifi- 

 cation, the material became mixed and its labels deranged or lost. A list 

 of species from the Jewett Collection was published by Philip Carpenter. 



