BY THE REV. J. E. TENISON-WOODS, F.G.S., F.L.S., ETC. 107 



accomplislied naturalists as Huxley, Jukes, Darwin, McGillivray, 

 Mosely, Dana, and others, yet the Littoral Shells have never been 

 specially studied. There are so many other objects of great 

 importance and interest in these localities that the littoral fauna 

 has been passed over, and so I find the field quite untrodden. 



The places to which my observations more especially refer are 

 from Trinity Bay to the Endeavour Eiver, a distance, in a straight 

 line, of about 100 miles, and lying between S, Lat. 17° and 15° 

 30'. There are only a few places on this coast line where an 

 examination is possible, as not only are there few settlements, 

 but the coast itself is as a rule inaccessible, and the natives 

 implacably hostile. There are thi'ee different kinds of littoral 

 fauna to be seen. One is on the coral reefs. There is not much 

 of this close in shore, but occasionally fringing reefs are found. 

 I shall not deal with these in detail, because I purpose making 

 them the subject of a series of special papers. There are two 

 others which bear marked and distinct characters, that is the 

 mangrove fauna and that of the exposed rocky coast. Sandy 

 beaches are rare in this part of the coast of Australia. Generally 

 speaking the precipitous hills of the cordillera seem to plunge 

 direct into the sea and are covered with the dense jungle of 

 tropical vegetation to the very water's edge. Still there are some 

 fine sandy beaches, such as at the mouth of the Endeavour, the 

 Bloomfield, the Daintree, and the Mossman Elvers, besides a 

 magnificent stretch of sandy beach in the south side of Island 

 Point, Trinity Bay. For the whole of these distances there are 

 no signs of upheaval or subsidence, but a gradual reclamation of 

 the land by the drifting up of marine sand. The rocks wherever 

 exposed are volcanic or granite. They are ancient in appearance. 

 There are no recent dolerites, such as we so frequently observe 

 on the south coast. 



The first thing that strikes the observer is the bare character 

 of the rocks in many places. One frequently meets with spots 

 where there is not a single mollusc to be seen adhering to the 



