123 



COXCIIOLOGY 



THE list of shells given by Dr. Mason was a very meagre one, and may bo 

 regarded as wliolly superseded by later researches. To Dr. JIason belongs, 

 however, the credit of being the first to pay attention to the land and freshwater 

 shells of Hurnia, and so far back as the year 1842 he despatched a collection of 

 shells to Dr. Gould, of Boston, the nuijority of which were iindeseril>ed, and wliich 

 gave the first hint of the extraordinary richness and interest of the Burmese shell 

 fauna. The entire number, however, of sliells indicated by Dr. Mason, both laud 

 and marine, was less than loO, and of these only a moiety can be regarded as 

 specifically determined. The following species are mentioned by Dr. Mason as 

 being used for food by the Bunuese, who, it may be remarked, will, on a pinch, eat 

 almost anything that the human masticatoiy organs cau dispose of. The Teredo 

 found in wood is, Dr. Mason saj's, collected and sold in the bazaars, and is 

 considered very good eating, as are the bun-owing shells Pholas, DactijUim and the 

 like, and the Tellens and Razor shells. More commonly, because more plentiful 

 and accessible, the estuarine forms of Area and different species of Cardium and 

 sundiy Vencraeea. "A large species of mussel may be sometimes seen in the 

 bazaar, where it sells for a comparatively high price, being regarded by the natives 

 as the best eating of any shell fish in the country." This is Mytilus smaragdlims, 

 and Hiatula diphos is almost equally esteemed. In the following list the nomen- 

 clature of the "Genera of Recent MoUusca," by H. and A. Adams, has been 

 usually followed, with the adoption, however, in many cases of the genera of 

 Lamarck instead of some older and less familiar ones. One important deviation 

 from Adams' arrangement should, however, be mentioned, viz. the removal of the 

 operculated pulmonata from their place in the sub-class Pulniouifera to the sub-class 

 Prosobranchiata, in the vieiiuty of the pulraonatc Aiiipitllaridte. 



Those species marked * were collected by myself on the Arakan coast, between 

 Sandoway and Cape Ncgrais, and the specific names were kindly furnished to me 

 by Sylvanus Hanley, Es(| , who remarked that the names are not always those which 

 claimed priority, but only that the shells corresponded with the specific reference 

 quoted. The remaining shells are added mainly on the authority of Messrs. G. and 

 H. Nevill, E. E. Smith, and W. T. Blanford. The present list, however, is merely 

 given in default of a better, and makes no pretence of fully representing the rich 

 moUuscan fauna of the east side of the Bay of Bengal and its islands. The list 

 is largely composed of species obtained along the coast, and a few months' careful 

 tb-edging would no doubt go far towards doubling the number of species here 

 recorded. Any one . desirous of collecting shells will find great assistance and 

 encouragement fi-om the perusal of any of the following books: — Woodward's 

 Manual of the Mollusca ; The Genera of Mollusca, by H. and A. Adams; Chenu's 

 Manuel de Conchyliologic, or Sowerby's ' Thesaurus Conchyliorum.' 



