2 CHARLES HEDLEY 



It may be that the living molluscs are too firmly embedded in the mud to be detached by the dredge. 

 The mud which has been stirred up by the dredging, when allowed to settle in the bucket, is so tenacious 

 that it is with difficulty that a half -buried Anatina shell can be pulled out. 



The living Yoldia, as well as shells, are very plentiful. 



In the Sound the large molluscs are entirely different. The conspicuous forms of the muddy bottom 

 are absent, except for an occasional empty shell of Anatina or Yoldia, and instead we find Lima, Tritoniella, 

 Philobrya, Nation, and others. 



Only the Lima and Philobrya are at all abundant ; the other conspicuous forms are rather rare. The 

 Lima is constantly present at depths of twenty-five to eighty fathoms. Very commonly the animal is 

 embedded in a sponge, usually in one of the softer horny kinds. 



Some sorts of Opisthobranchs (Tectibranchs) were obtained both in the Bay and the Sound, but the 

 best specimens were got in the mouths of the Big-head Fishes (Trematomus). 



A comparison of our collection with that of the Discovery Expedition is instructive for the light it 

 throws on local distribution in the Ross Sea area. 



Leaving out of account the Opisthobranchs, which are not yet fully worked out for our Expedition 

 (although Mr. Hedley records a few species), our collection includes ten Lamellibranchs and twenty 

 Gastropods, against fourteen Lamellibranchs and twenty-five Gastropods obtained by the Discovery. Of 

 these, seven Lamellibranchs and twelve Gastropods are common to the two collections. The Discovery had 

 thus twenty species (seven Lamellibranchs and thirteen Gastropods) which were not in our collection, and 

 we had eleven species (three Lamellibranchs and eight Gastropods) which were not in the Discovery collection. 



This amount of difference between'collections made at stations only twenty miles apart is very considerable. 

 It is more important that one of our most abundant shallow-water species ( Yoldia eightsi) did not occur at 

 all at Hut Point (the Discovery winter quarters). 



Of the species which occurred in our collection and not in that of the Discovery, one Gastropod and 

 one Lamellibranch were got by the Sotithern Cross far to the north of our position, and one Gastropod 

 was collected by the Belgka. 



Seven of our species (two Lamellibranchs and five Gastropods) are described by Mr. Hedley as new to 

 science. J. M. 



SIR ERNEST SHACKLETON has done me the honour to hand me for report the 

 collection of mollusca accumulated by the British Antarctic Expedition of 1908 

 under his command. This consists chiefly of specimens dredged by Mr. James Murray 

 through holes and cracks in the ice around Cape Royds. In this neighbourhood the 

 slope of Mount Erebus continues under the sea, so that shallow and deep stations 

 lie near together. 



For several feet below the surface all life is destroyed by the floating ice, but 

 below its influence a fauna flourishes which, for the latitude, may be considered 

 luxuriant. The bottom in shoaler depths is described by Mr. Murray as carpeted 

 with a matted growth of weed and sponge, beyond which was an area of soft 

 black rnud. 



Salient characters of the collection, which strike an observer accustomed to 

 tropical and temperate faunas, are the great chemical erosion which the shells have 

 suffered, and against which some, Yoldia for instance, have developed a dense 

 epidermis. A large proportion are frail and thin. 



No great number of novelties could be anticipated from this collection, for the 

 Expedition's field of examination had already been exploited by the Discovery; 



