130 REPORT—1843. 
next proceeded to describe the Pholas dactylus which he had found in clay- 
slate in Cornwall, and to describe particularly the form and actions of the 
animal, which he had kept alive in his house more than a month (there were 
fifteen or sixteen shells of all sizes), and although he marked the slab in 
which they were, he could not perceive that they turned round for the purpose 
of boring. In the same slab he also found Pholas parva. 
Report on the Mollusca and Radiata of the Algean Sea, and on their 
distribution, considered as bearing on Geology, By B>wARrp ForBEs, 
F.L.S., M.W.S., Professor of Botany in King’s College, London. 
Tue ‘British Association having done me the honour of requesting a report 
on the Mollusca and Radiata inhabiting the /Egean and Red Seas, considered 
more especially in their bearings on questions of distribution and of geology, 
I have now the pleasure of laying before this meeting such portion of it as 
relates to the eastern Mediterranean. The data upon which it is founded 
have been entirely derived from personal research during a voyage of eigh- 
teen months in the 2gean, when but few days passed by without being devoted 
to natural history observations. The calculations in the following pages have 
been based upon more than 100 fully recorded dredging operations in various 
depths, from 1 to 130 fathoms, and in many localities from the shores of the 
Morea to those of Asia Minor, besides numerous coast observations whenever 
opportunity offered. The circumstances under which these researches were 
made were peculiarly propitious. The merit of the results obtained is mainly 
due to Captain Graves in command of the Mediterranean Survey, at whose 
invitation the reporter joined H.M.S. Beacon as Naturalist, in April 1841, 
from which time, until his departure for England in October 1842, every 
possible assistance and means of observation were put at his disposal by that 
distinguished officer, and every cooperation afforded by the officers of the 
Survey. Without such aid it would have been quite impossible to have ob- 
tained the results now laid before the Association, which, from their having 
been made in connection with the Hydrographical Survey, may assume a 
value to which no private observations could lay claim*. 
The Aegean Sea, although most interesting to the naturalist as the scene 
of the labours of Aristotle, has been but little investigated since his time. 
The partially-published observations of Sibthorpe, and the great French work 
on the Morea, include the chief contributions to its natural history. In the 
last-named work are contained catalogues of the Fishes and Mollusea, with 
notices of one or two Annelides. In all the marine tribes my lists greatly 
exceed the French catalogues, more than doubling the number of Fishes, and 
exceeding that of Mollusea by above 160 species, not to mention Radiata, 
Amorphozoa and Articulata. In the present report I propose to give an 
account of the distribution of the several tribes of Mollusea and Radiata in 
the eastern Mediterranean, exhibiting their range in depth, and the cireum- 
stances under which they are found; to inquire into the laws which appear 
* A great portion of the observations among the Cyclades were made jointly with Lieut. 
Spratt, Assistant Surveyor of the Beacon, and of those relating to the coasts of Asia Minor with 
Mr. Hoskyn, late Master of the Beacon, and now Assistant Surveyor of H.M.S. Lucifer. Many 
independent observations of great value to the author were made by Lieut, Freeland, Lieut. 
Mansell, Mr. Chapman, and other officers of the Beacon, and he is desirous of recording his 
thanks to all the gentlemen named for their kindness in placing their collections at his disposal. 
He is happy to say that the A.gean researches have not ceased with his departure, Capt. Graves 
and his officers being actively engaged in natural history investigations in addition to their 
many scientific duties during the survey now in progress of the Island of Candia. 
—— 
