84 MARINE MOLLUSCA 
L. says, *‘‘ All the specimens in the British Museum col- 
lection are from South Africa. There can be no doubt 
that these Australian records are fictitious.” In a prelim- 
inary index of the Mollusca of Western Australia the same 
argument is used: f‘‘ This record by Menke from W. 
Australia of an African shell is considered an error by Von 
Martens.”’ In each of these cases it is not the decision as 
to nomenclature that is here objected to, but the assertion 
that a South African habitat denies the possibility of the 
shell being found in Australian waters. 
Having a small collection of shells from Cape Colony 
and Natal, an examination proved that about one-sixth of 
these are also known to inhabit the coasts of Australia. 
This led to a careful search through the works of the chief 
conchologists and the compilation of the following list of 
species common to South Africa and the Australian. con- 
tinent, a list of some three hundred and fifty species. From 
the list some curious facts may be drawn. The common 
species are found mainly in the Solanderian and Dampierian 
or northern faunal provinces, while very few South African 
shells range to the nearer Adelaidean province, lying bet- 
ween Shark Bay and Wilson’s Promontory. Among 
Pelecypoda the genera Arca, Cardita, Mactra, Paphia and 
Tellina show the greatest percentage of species common to 
the coasts of the Union and the Commonwealth ; and among 
Gasteropods the following :— Arcularia, Cerithiwm, Conus, 
Cypraea, Drupa, Mitra, Pyrene, Terebra, Triton or Cymatium. 
It is to be expected that such far-wandering ocean travellers 
as Cavolinia and Janthina will prove common to the two 
areas ; but it is a surprise to find small shells as Hrato 
sulcifera Gray, Monoptygma casta A. Adams, Phos roseatus 
Hinds, Pteria zebra Reeve, Pyrene varians Sowerby, Rissoina. 
elegantula Angas, and Rissoina crassa Angas, common to 
these two southern lands. 
Another point worthy of mention is the scanty number 
of shells in common of the very large families, Turbinidae 
and Pyramidellidae, 
*Loc. cit. p. 297. 
tJour. Roy. Soc. W. Australia, I, 1916, pp. 19. 29, 65. 
a 
