201 



PAL>EONTOLOGY 



AND 



GEOLOGY. 



FOSSIL MOLLUSCA F1{0M THE REEF-LIMESTOXES 

 OF CHIUSTMAS ISLAND. 



By 11. BuLLEN Newtox, F.G.S. 



The rcof-limcstoncs of Christmas Island have been refciTcd to in 

 general terms by the few writers who have visited the repon, but 

 wc are indebted to Mr. C. W. Andrews, through collections made 

 in 1897-98, for our first knowledge of the palaeontology' of this 

 formation. 



Among the specimens brought home from those deposits were 

 a small number of shells, which, although of rather bad preserva- 

 tion, and many of them not specifically determinable, are more 

 or less important as a contribution to the (iuaternary history of 

 this area. 



The identifications that have been possible appear to prove 

 conclusively tlie modem character of these rocks, the species being 

 inhabitants of the surrounding seas at the present day. 



MOLLUSCA : GASTEROrODA. 



Genus TECTUS, De Montfort, 1810. 

 Conchyliologie Systematique, 1810, vol. ii, p. 186. 



Type. — Tectug pagodalis, Be !Montfort = Trochns mauritianm, 

 Omelin. 



Sifnonyms. — Pt/ramis, Schumacher, 1817; Fi/rami'dea, Swainson, 

 1840. 



