86 THE BERMUDA ISLANDS. 



were given to the region from the south. The species peculiar 

 to the Bermudas are, as far as is now known, about eleven in 

 number, none of which had been described previous to our 

 exploration. They are: 



Octopus chromatus, 



Aplysia sequorea, 



Chromodoris zebra, 



Onchidium (Onchidielld) trans- Atlanticum, 



Emarginula dentigera, 



Emarginula pileum, 



Csecum termes, 



Macoma eborea, 



Mysia pellucida, 



Cytherea Penistoni, 



Chama Bermudensis. 



In addition to the above there are several shells (Phos, 

 Columbella, Pleurotoma) which I have been unable to place, 

 and which may prove distinctive of this fauna. On the other 

 hand, it is not impossible that some of the forms above named 

 may be found elsewhere, and thus lessen the amount of in- 

 dividuality which the Bermudian fauna now presents. Thus, 

 the Murex nuceus, of Morch, which was supposed to be peculiar 

 to the Bermudas, has recently been found at Marco, west coast 

 of the peninsula of Florida; and a species of Cythara, 

 (unnamed) which I obtained at Shelly Bay, I have since found 

 among unidentified material, from Florida, contained in the 

 collections of the Academy of Natural Sciences. But the facts 

 as they stand are sufficiently suggestive, and in conjunc- 

 tion with much more marked peculiarities presented by the 

 terrestrial Mollusca, point strongly, though by no means con- 

 clusively, to a faunal individuality that could have arisen only 

 as the result of long existence, or of a faunal modification that 

 was unusually rapid in its development. How rapid this modifi- 

 cation may have been, or how old the islands may be, it is im- 

 possible to say, and the terms can, therefore, only be used in a 

 relative sense; but with either condition an antiquity is indi- 



