PRELIMINARY REPORT ON THE MOLLUSCAN SPECIES COLLECTED 

 BY THE UNITED STATES SCIENTIFIC EXPEDITION TO WEST 

 AFRICA, IN iSSg-'go. 



BY 

 Robert E. C. Stkarns, Ph. D., 



Adjunct Curator of the Department of Mollusks. 



By an act of Congress provision was made to defray the expense of 

 seiidii)}; a scientific expedition to the west coast of Africa for the pur- 

 j)ose of observinjj tlic total eclipse of the sun, occnrrinpj on December 22, 

 1K80. In acjiordancc; with the recommendations of a board appointed 

 by the Chief of the Bureau of Navij^ation to devise plans, etc., the de- 

 tails of the exi)edition were arranged. Through the (courtesy of Prof. 

 David J*. Todd, of Andierst College, .Massachusetts, in charge of the 

 expedition, airaiigemeuts were made whereby Mr. W. Harvey Brown 

 and Mr. Arthur II. Biown, of the U. S. National Museum, were ap- 

 pointed acting and assistant naturalists, to accomi)auy the expedition 

 in the interest of the Museum, for tlui purpose of making collections of 

 natural history obJe(;ts, especially fishes and mammals. 



The expedition sailed from New York on October 16, 1889, on the 

 United States steamer Petifiacola. 



I am indebted to Prof. Todd for the following data as to the points 

 touched at by the expedition, and the dates of arrival and departure: 



Localities. 



Horta, Fayal, Azores 



Porto rxrande, St. Vincent, Cape Verde 



F'rco Town, Siorni Leono 



Elinina Gold Coast 



St. Paul de Loando, Angola 



Arrived. ! Departed. 



Nov. 2,1889 Nov. 3,1889 



Nov. 10, 1889 Nov. 12, 1889 



Nov. 18, 1889 Nov. 20, 1889 



Nov. 26, 1889 Nov. 28, 1889 



Dec. 6, 1889 Jan. b, 1890 



Here the naturalists were in the interior for nearly a month. After 

 leaving the latter place on the 6th of January, the next point reached 

 was Cape Town, and the arrivals and departures were as follows : 



Localities. 



Arrived. 



Cape Town, Soutli Africa Jan. 17,1890 



St. Helena, South Atlantic ' Feb. 20. 1890 



Ascension, South Atlantic Mar. 10, 1890 



BridKctown, ]5ail>ado.s Apr. 28, 1890 



llernnida May 18, 1890 



Departed. 



Feb. 6, 1890 



Mar. 10,1890 



Apr. 8,1800 



May 10, 1890 



May 19, 1890 



Proceedings National Museum, Vol. XVI — No. 940. 



317 



