94 



AMERICAN JOURNAL 



and others having been already named in MSS. by Dr. Car- 

 penter. 



During the two years following, the dredging which I was 

 able to do in the North, and the collections of shells made in 

 Alaska by the Scientific Corps under my charge, added a mass 

 of very interesting material, which, on my return, yielded a num- 

 ber of new and rare forms. Most of these were also submitted 

 to Dr. Carpenter, to assist him in his work on the shells of Cali- 

 fornia, in preparation for the series of the Geological Survey of 

 that State. 



I had anticipated presenting a thorough report on these mol- 

 lusks, including anatomical details and a complete revision "of 

 their synonymy ; but up to the present time, such have been the 

 unexpected and annoying delays in the return of the types, 

 some of which have not yet reached me, and the multiplicity of 

 other duties, that I have not been able to prepare for publication 

 more than a very small portion of the mass of notes, drawing, 

 anatomical details, &c, which have accumulated. As I am again 

 called away by unavoidable duties to the extreme northwest 

 coast, I have thought it best to prepare diagnoses of most of the 

 new species, and a very few of the anatomical and other notes 

 which are in a state for publication. Any deficiencies in the 

 present paper must therefore be regarded in the light of the cir- 

 cumstances which have rendered them unavoidable. 



That portion which relates to the Pteropods, Nudibranchs and 

 naked mollusks generally, must be regarded as provisional, care- 

 ful drawings having been taken from life, which, with the results 

 of dissections, are reserved for future publication. 



I trust to be able to add largely to our present knowledge of 

 the fauna of the coast of Alaska and the Aleutian Islands, in 

 the course of the explorations and dredgings which I am about 

 to undertake in that region, under the auspices of the U. S. 

 Coast Survey. 



Among the collections which have afforded interesting species 

 or notes, are to be especially mentioned those of Prof. R. Pum- 

 pelly, on the coast of Japan ; Dr. E. Palmer, on the shores of 

 the Gulf of California, ; Dr. J. G. Cooper, R. E. C. Stearns, Esq., 

 and others. 



I am indebted to Dr. P. P. Carpenter for suggestions and 

 corrections to my Monterey paper, and in regard to the other, 

 more northern, collections ; also to the Smithsonian Institution, 

 in charge of Prof. Joseph Henry, for the use of their collections 

 and library during these researches. 



It is to be anticipated, as material for study becomes less lim- 

 ited and opportunities for comparison more numerous, that many 



