196 LECTURES ON 



divided it into two portions : the smaller was sent to Havre ; the 

 larger, occupying no less than 560 cubic feet, to Liverpool. 



A collection of such magnitude, known to have been made only at 

 one spot, had never before been thrown open to the public ; and, 

 knowing that its contents were likely to afford very valuable informa- 

 tion in reference to the geographical distribution of species, I em- 

 braced the opportunity which circumstances afforded me to pass the 

 whole under careful review. The result of my labors will be found 

 in a "report on the present state of our knowledge of the mollusca of 

 the west coast of North America," prepared at the request of the 

 British Association for the Advancement of Science, and published in 

 the volume of transactions for 1856 ; and, in a more detailed form, in 

 the "descriptive catalogue of the Reigen collection of Mazatlan mol- 

 lusca" printed by order of the trustees of the British Museum, 1857.* 

 The best duplicate series, amounting to about 6,500 shells, I have 

 lately given to the State of New York. Having come to this country to 

 arrange it in the natural history rooms at Albany, Professor Henry 

 requested me to visit Washington, and arrange the shells of the United 

 States exploring expedition. For this difficult task, the sorting out 

 of the Mazatlan shells, amounting probably to 100,000 specimens, was 

 perhaps no unfit preparation. 



In the present lecture, it is proposed to confine our attention to a 

 single shell from this collection. It belongs to a group nearly related 

 to the oysters, and still retains the name of Spondylus given to it by 

 Aristotle more than two thousand years ago, from the resemblance of 

 the thorny processes outside the valves to the vertebrae of the higher 

 animals. I have named the species calcifer, from the use made of it 

 by the natives, who dive for it in order to burn for lime. Its solid, 

 ponderous growth affords a striking contrast to the great ' ' water-clam " 

 of the Pacific islands, in which the shell-layers are generally separate 

 from each other, t Unfortunately the cumbrous size of these shells 

 led the Liverpool dealer to dispose of the whole stock before I had an 

 opportunity of examining them ; their ignominious fate being to adorn 

 the "museum" of a large drinking saloon, the owner of which had 

 no idea of their scientific interest, and was unwilling to part with 

 any of his duplicates. The very few which fell into my possession 

 proved, however, to be a little museum in themselves; each specimen 

 so abounding in parasites, within and without, that I have described 

 upwards of a hundred entirely new. forms of molluscan life derived 

 from this source alone; besides about 250 others which had been pre- 

 viously investigated, or which are not yet determined ; and a variety of 

 Annelids, Crustaceans, Zoophytes, Sponges, Protozoas, Protophytes, 



°Both of these works are in the library of the Smithsonian Institution. In order 

 to aid in their compilation, Mr. Herbert Ibornas purchased for me what remained of 

 the Reigen collection. The first fruits of this, amounting to nearly 9,000 specimens, I 

 presented to the British Museum. 



f A very remarkable specimen of this 6hell was brought home by the United States ex- 

 ploring expedition, in which the free as well as the attached valve displays the long, flat, 

 triangular ligament area, presenting somewhat the appearance of the gigantic fossil Pla- 

 giottomata. 



