TEST ACE A ATLANTIC A. 



I. AZOEEAN GEOUP. 



The islands of the Azorean archipelago are the only ones treated 

 of in this volume with which I have personally no acquaintance; 

 and so desirable do I consider it that some practical knowledge 

 of the principal habitats concerned should be possessed by any- 

 body who undertakes to review critically the natural productions 

 of a given region, that nothing would have induced me to admit 

 the Grastropodous fauna of the Azores into the present cata- 

 logue did not the geographical position of the gToup give it so 

 especial an interest in connection with the Madeiras and the 

 Canaries that I cannot but feel that it is better to waive all 

 scruples with reference to a jjersonal exploration than omit the 

 opportunity of incorporating whatever happens to be known on 

 that branch of our subject which pertains to those particular 

 islands. I shall thereforej with the help of such material as 

 I have been able to examine, rely almost exclusively for my 

 data on the only three works, relating to that archipelago, to 

 which I have access ( — the only three, indeed, so far as I am 

 aware, which contain any information which is at all to be 

 depended upon), — namely (1) Notice sur VHistoire Naturelle 

 des Agores, par A. Morelet, Paris 1860; (2) Elements de la 

 Faune Agoreenne, par H. Drouet, Paris 1861 ; and (3) a 

 Natural History of the Azores, by Frederick Du Cane Godman, 

 F.L.S., London 1870. 



So intimately bound-up are the Azores with the various 

 other islands of (what we may be permitted to designate) this 

 ' Atlantic province,' and so significant is their bearing on the 

 general questions relating to the whole fauna, that we must be 

 thankful for the results of even the comparatively small amount 

 of labour which has hitherto been bestowed upon them. Yet, 



