THE 



JOURNAL OF MALACOLOGY. 



No. 3. September 30th, 1895. ^^ol. IV. 



MOLLUSCA OF THE ORIENTAL REGION, 



By CHARLES HEDLEY, FL.S. 



Australian Museum, Sydney, N.S.W. 



As might have been anticipated from the tastes and previous 

 writings of the author, one of the chief excellencies of Mr. 

 A. H. Cooke's admirable work on " Molluscs," is the section 

 dealing with Geographical Distribution. Though the subject is 

 investigated independently of the classic scheme of Wallace, yet 

 the conclusions of that great authority are generally taught by 

 Cooke. 



Wallace's limitations '" of the Oriental Region seemed to me, 

 when inquiring into that fauna, to rest upon less clear distinctions 

 than those defining the Palaearctic, the Ethiopian or other main 

 divisions. I prefer the first conception t he entertained on his 

 return from the East, of a province " extending from the Nicobars 

 on the north-west, to San Christoval, one of the Solomon Islands 

 on the south-east, and from Luzon on the north, to Rotti, at the 

 south-west angle of Timor, on the south." I'ischer once wrote, X 

 " A study of the terrestrial molluscs, shows but little difference 

 between the favmas of Bali and of Lombok, and only these 

 particular features (certain birds) induces an appreciation of the 

 importance of the line of demarcation drawn by Wallace." That 

 Cooke, sharing Fischer's estimate of " Wallace's line," should, 

 while retaining Wallace's provinces, shift his boundaries to a 

 position past the Molluccas, is further proof of their indefinitness. 



Only they to whom species are real entities, not mere names 

 written on slips of paper, can hope to solve these problems. It 

 is upon the experience of actual travel, collecting and study in 

 Australia and New Guinea that I base my opposition to Mr. 

 Cooke's views, and my contention that, on the one hand, Papua 



♦Geographical Distribution of Animals, vol. i, chap. xii. 



tReport British Assoc, 1863, Trans, p 107. 



IConipte-Rendu des Stances du Congri's international deZoiilogie, Paris, 1889, p. 28. 



