182 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Vol. Vlii. 



only previously known locality for them, while ten are new to 

 the fauna of the Gulf. Mr. Richardson also collected thirty-one 

 species of marine shells in the neighbourhood of Victoria, and of 

 these three are new to the district. The whole of the specimens 

 collected by Mr. Richardson have been presented to the Society 

 by its worthy President, to whom the Society is already so 

 largely indebted. Thanks to his liberality, the Society now pos- 

 sesses quite a rich collection of the products of the Pacific coasts 

 of the Dominion. It has been quite a labour of love to study 

 these interesting and often unique specimens : the whole of the 

 Mollusca, eighty-five species in all, have been carefully deter- 

 mined, as have also most of the Echinodermata. We have also 

 received during the past session a small but beautifully prepared 

 series of the Crustacea, marine algae, &c, of Vancouver Island, 

 prepared by Mr. R. Middleton of Victoria. The Crustacea have 

 been sent to Mr. S. J. Smith of Yale College for identification, 

 and have been since returned. There are six species, most of 

 which are rare in collections, while one is entirely new. The 

 Hydroids were sent to Prof. Verrill, who in returning them, 

 reports that there are seven species, all referable to well-known 

 Californian types. Mr. W. H. Dall, who has spent many years 

 in exploring the marine zoology, &c, of Alaska and the Arctic 

 fauna of the Pacific, paid Montreal a visit last August, and 

 spent several days in examining and making notes on the shells 

 from the Gulf of St. Lawrence in the Society's collection. Un- 

 fortunately, Mr. Richardson's shells had not been received when 

 Mr. Dall was here, but a list of the whole of them was forwarded 

 to him at Washington, and many of the most critical of the 

 shells themselves. Dr. J. Gwyn Jeffreys, who superintended one 

 of the dredging cruises of the Porcupine, accompanied the 

 British Arctic expedition as far as Greenland, in H. M. S. 

 Valorous. An accident occurred to the vessel, which somewhat 

 interfered with dredging operations ; still Dr. Jeffreys' cruise 

 was not altogether unsuccessful, and he is now engaged in a 

 study of the specimens obtained. He has expressed a wish to 

 see several of the shells obtained in the Gulf of St. Lawrence on 

 recent dredging expeditions, and they have accordingly been sent 

 to him ; these have also been since returned. The Society has 

 now had the advantage of having all its St. Lawrence shells criti- 

 cally compared with Arctic Atlantic forms by the ablest living 

 authority on the mollusca of the north of Europe, and as com- 

 plete a set of duplicates as could be spared were forwarded to 



