374 BULLETIN 10 0, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



numerous rivers. The surface details given in the best charts are wholly unre- 

 liable, and such large rivers as the Baco are left out altogether. 



The rainfall is enormous. There are no statistics available, but it rains heavily 

 during nine months of the year, and not infrequently during the other three, as 

 I have learned to my sorrow. Exploration in the interior can be carried on only 

 at the height of the dry season, in March, April, and May. 



There is no anchorage at Calapan, and the surf runs so heavily during October, 

 November, and December that steamers are often forced to carry the mails by. 



The only Europeans in the island outside of Calapan are a half-dozen friars, 

 and at the capital there are only the necessary officials, and one or two shop- 

 keepers who are too poor to get away. 



On our first trip to the Philippines we purposely put Mindoro last on our list 

 of islands to be visited, knowing that if we were fortunate enough to escape the 

 lulisanes we should still get the fever, and wishing to be able to start for home at 

 once should it seriously disable us. 



The first serious collecting in Mindoro was done by Hugh Cuming, 

 who was probably the most successful collector of mollusks in his day. 

 His visits to the Philippines extended from 1836 to 1839 and resulted 

 in bringing to light more novelties than all the previously known 

 species. They have been reported on by many writers, and a set is 

 in the collection of the United States National Museum. Since some 

 doubt has been raised about the localities cited by Cuming for some 

 of his species, I quote from an article by W. J. Broderip, published in 

 the Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London for 1840, pages 

 83-84: 



Before, however, we commence our task, I must, in justice to him who has placed 

 the materials in our hands, observe, that, to say nothing of the variety of new 

 forms which he has been the means of bringing to light, those who cultivate this 

 branch of zoology so highly interesting to the geologist, as well as the physiologist, 

 owe him a large debt of gratitude, for information on a point of no small zoological 

 importance. It is not very long since, that the localities ascribed to shells could 

 in very few instances be depended upon. The cupidity of dealers, some years 

 ago, not unfrequently prompted them wilfully to deceive those who gave extrava- 

 gant prices for new shells on this point, and carelessness was generally the order 

 of the day. Mr. Cuming, by his accurate notes, and the open publication of the 

 places where every one of the multitudinous species and varieties collected by 

 him was found, has mainly assisted in making a complete revolution in this 

 department of the science, and has done more towards giving us data for the geo- 

 graphical distribution of the testaceous mollusca than any person who has yet 

 lived. 



I concur in Broderip's statement. 



Hugh Cuming visited Mindoro and collected at Puerto Galera and 

 Mansalay Bay. 



W. W. Wood sent "many fine shells ..." from the Philippine 

 Islands to Isaac Lea, who described a number of species in the Trans- 

 actions of the American Philosophical Society in 1840. No specific 

 locality is given with any of Wood's shells, but the fact that Cochlo- 

 styla cepoides is here described shows that he must have been in the 

 mountains of Lubang Island or had a collector there. 



