178 AMERICAN JOURNAL 



" Mr. Wm. H. Dall made a few remarks upon the distribution 

 of marine animals, asserting that their range was influenced 

 more by the temperature of the water than by the depth or other 

 conditions. He showed that the floating ice line of Behring Sea 

 (which passes between the Pribyloff" and St. Matthew groups of 

 islands, touching the continent near Kwskoquim Bay) governed 

 the distribution of the fish and moUusks of those waters. It is 

 the northern limit of all the more southern forms, some of which 

 range as far south as Monterey. It is the southern limit of al- 

 most all the truly arctic species. The fur seal is never found 

 to the north of it, though often erroneously spoken of as coming 

 from Behring Strait ; the polar bear never passes to the south 

 of this line ; the cod invariably keep to the south and the mullet 

 to the north of it. It is also the limit of distribution of many 

 fuci and seaside plants. 



"Where the water is cooled by northern currents or by glaciers, 

 deep water species of mollusks, especially Brachiopods, are found 

 at or even above low-water mark. Where the surface is warm, 

 these mollusks, which in the north are found near the shore, are 

 only obtained at a depth of many fathoms." 



American Journal of Science and Arts. Vol. 49. No. 146. March' 

 1870. 



Contrihntions to Zoology from the Museum of Yah College. 

 No. 6. — Descriptions of Shells from the Cfiilf of Oali- 

 fornia. By A. E. Verrill. 



Semele Junonia, Loripes edentuloides, 



Tivela elegans, Ji^enophora robusta, 



Venus isocardia, Enoeta Pedersenii, 



Ghione tumens, Lyria {Enoeta) Cumingii. 



Semele venusta, A. Ad., is supposed to be the young of S. 

 formosa, Sowb. 



II.— FOREIGN. 



FRENCH. 



Journal de Conohyliologie. 3d Ser., X., No. 2. 128 pp. 8vo., and five 

 plates. Paris. April, 1870. 



Sur la Faune Conchyliologique marine des haies de Suez et 

 de VAhabah. By P. Fischer. 



This paper contains a catalogue of species aud the description 

 of the following, new to science ; 



Murex Erythrceus, Mytilus Pharaonis. 



