216 MAETIN F. WOODWARD. 



the specimens of P. Quoyaua obtained by the "Blake" has 

 been made by Fischer and Bouvier,^ and these authors have 

 made a still more detailed examination of the radula of this 

 form^ and also of the nervous system, which had not previ- 

 ously been examined. These investigators have published a 

 most exhaustive history of the genus, giving in addition a 

 complete list of the recent specimens obtained up to the year 

 1898, and they further append a full literature relating to 

 tbis mollusc. Since it is not my intention to enter into these 

 branches of the subject, I must refer the reader to Messrs. 

 Bouvier and Fischer's paper." 



Through the kindness of the Director of the Natural 

 History Museum I had placed at my disposal an example of 

 the animal of P. Beyrichii obtained off Boshu, in Japan. 

 The animal was beautifully preserved, but unfortunately it 

 declined to part company with its shell save in pieces, so that 

 my first investigation was much retarded by having to build 

 up the anatomy of the animal from these fragments. Fortu- 

 nately, however, two more specimens were obtained by the 

 Museum and handed over to me by Professor E, Ray Lan- 

 kester, whom I have to thank for entrusting their examina- 

 tion to me. Without these additional specimens my results 

 would have been very incomplete, since the first specimen, 

 though in much the best state of preservation, was in so 

 many fragments that it was extremely difficult if not impos- 

 sible to make out the exact relations of some of the organs. 

 Although my investigations are largely based on an examina- 



* •' Etude monographique des Pleurotomaries actuel," ' Arcliiv. Zool. exp.' 

 (3), vol. vi, 1898. Reprinted in 'Bull. Mas. Comp. Zool, Harvard,' vol. 

 xxxii. 



^ Since the publication of Bouvier and Fischer's monograph at least five 

 ne\? specimens of P. Beyrichii have been obtained. Tliese all came from 

 the Boshu, Japan, being captured alive in nets set at the bottom at a depth 

 of seventy to eighty fathoms; they were preserved in spirit with the animal. 

 One of these specimens has been described by Rolle ('Nachrbl. Deutsch. 

 Malak. Ges.,' 1899) as a new species under the name of P. salmiana. I 

 think, myself, that is only a variety of P. Beyrichii. Au additional shell of 

 P. Adansoniana has also been obtained. 



