386 Miscellaneous. 



the original forest ; they are uninhabited, and rarely trodden except 

 by the hunter. In such places only have I ever met with Helix 

 hactricola, Cistula aripensis, or the Diplommatina ; and they do not 

 now exist on Punta Gorda, or anywhere in its neighbourhood so far 

 as I have been able to ascertain. Punta Gorda is practically an 

 islet, being cut off from the main island of Trinidad by a mangrove 

 swamp submerged at high water. Through this swamp a canal was 

 cut some thirty or forty years ago, connecting the water of the Gulf 

 on each side of the ])cninsula. Punta Gorda is similar in its struc- 

 ture to the islets in its neighbourhood — namely, the Cotoras, Careras, 

 and Gaspari ; it is composed of compact limestone of Devonian or 

 Carboniferous age, in which exist caverns and fissures, and in these 

 caverns and fissures are deposited stalagmitic matter, sometimes 

 forming a breccia-like stone. 



Of the probable antiquity of the breccia in which the shells are 

 imbedded, it is difficult exactlj' to judge. The destruction of the 

 original forest upon Punta Gorda possibly induced not only a 

 slackening of the formation of stalagmites, but also involved the 

 extinction of some of the land-shells. The moUuscan fauna of the 

 peninsula at present consists of Stenogyra octomi, Helicina barhata, 

 H. lameUosa, Gyclotus translucidus, CyUndrella trinitaria, and Bull- 

 mus pilosus — an assemblage having only two species in common 

 with the cave deposit. Punta Gorda, as well as the islets near it, 

 and the Boca Islands were cultivated at the beginning of the century, 

 and crops of cotton were raised there. It is not likely, therefore, 

 that the breccia containing shells is less than fifty or sixty years 

 old ; while, on the other hand, it is more probable that its age 

 might be reckoned in hundreds of years. Ships arrived here from 

 India for the first time in 1845. 



I think, therefore, that the evidence now given tends to strengthen 

 the theory that the Blplommatina is an aboriginal inhabitant of the 

 island, and was not introduced from India. 



Mr. Blanford has already pointed out that the distribution of the 

 Cyclophoridaj (including Diplommatina and its allies) ii] eludes, besides 

 certain other countries, India and the West Indies. In my paper 

 in the ' Zoological Proceedings,' 1875, p. 318, I have pointed out 

 several analogous circumstances as regards geographical distribution, 

 especially, for instance, that of Streptaxis. 



Globiferi, neiv Organs of the Echinida. By Dr. Oxto Hamann, 



On the skin of many Echinida, besides spines, pedicellarioe, and 

 sphseridia, certain organs occur which have hitherto remained undis- 

 covered. On account of their peculiar form I call them globiferi. 



Upon a movable peduncle, sometimes long, sometimes short, are 

 seated some globular bodies, which maj' show the most multifarious 

 structures in diti'erent species. In Sphcerecliinus granularis the head 

 of the globifer consists of three spheres united to each other at their 

 points of contact, and each of which shows an aperture, generally 

 of 'a circular form, even under a low power. In the peduncle of 



