91 



It has been found by Mr. Jeffreys, and several others, at 

 Oban ; but, as the specimens from that locality are in 

 general distorted and imperfectly developed, it has been 

 considered a distinct species, and named Terebratula 

 aurita. Although new to the catalogue of British Fauna, it 

 is probably on the score of antiquity that this shell chiefly 

 claims our interest, as not only is the genus found in 

 older formations than almost any other of -which we have 

 living representatives, — viz., the upper silurian rocks ; 

 but the identical species is supposed to have maintained 

 its ground longer than any other actual inhabitant of our 

 planet, being, as I am assured, met with, certainly, in the 

 chalk, if not in the oolite. The specimens before you, 

 two of which are of extraordinary size, were taken in 

 Loch Fyne, in about twenty fathoms water. Wherever 

 it is found, it is generally to be met with in great abun- 

 dance ; and I have also procured it in Oban, on the west 

 side of the island of Kerrera, and towards the south side 

 of the British channel, off the coast of Brittany. In the 

 last locality, -the specimens were very small, in between 

 forty and fifty fathoms water. 



The next specimen is a Natica, — in many of its charac- 

 ters resembling Natica monilifera ; but it inhabits much 

 deeper water, and also differs from the latter in being destitute 

 of the usual spots and markings, in having the upper margin 

 of the whorls depressed or grooved, particularly in the 

 older specimens; and, above all, in being covered with an 

 epidermis. Till the animal has been carefully prepared, 

 it cannot be pronounced a new species : but it is, at least, 

 a very distinct variety. I have met with it on the coast 

 of Arran, in twelve to twenty fathoms water ; in St. 

 George's Channel at a depth of between fifty and sixty 

 fathoms ; also in the bay of Gibraltar. 



There are several mollusca, hitherto considered extremely 

 rare, which I have found in considerable abundance. Among 



