- 14 - 



sideration have floarialied in either relatively or aetiiallj:' 

 shallow water or even in the intertidal zone. Dredging op- 

 erations h've 'oeen conducted for the most -oart in the deeper 

 orf-chore vaster and even then a source of confusion has arisen 

 throv.gh the unfortunate practice of failing to disf ' :h the 

 occurrence of dead -and living forms, ^or ohviOTis r .: it is 



often impossible to determiiie the texture -- " '-he bottom at 

 each haul even in shallow water, co that the knowledge concern- 

 ing the influence of hottom conditions rests largel3; on what 



is kiiown concerning the '"^istrihution ia the intertidal zone. 



stud 2," 

 An intensive of a restricted shall ov7 -water '.Vest Indian area, 



such as the census conducted b" the ?ish Commission for Vine- 

 yard SoTond and Buzzard's Bay (l), v/ould be o^' x.^t; stiriiable value 



(1). Bull. Bur.' Fisheries, vol. 51, pts. 1 and 2, 1915. 



in projecting backward the conditio. t determined the assem- 



blage of an Aiitillean Terti: _ :ina. Desnite the difficulties 



i;'^vc" - -^ "'jhe ensemble of 3o"den pelecypods is such as to pe-rmit 

 the offering of certain considerations, soiiB of which are more 

 or less obvious and even trite, v/hile others are to be re^rarded 

 with some reservation. 



It is of course, a m.ere platitude to state that the fauna 

 is tropical, since such a facias is to be ezpectei-i from the 



