608 REPORT 18C3. 



species authentically collected and the thoroughly competent and accurate 

 manner in which the necessary information is being recorded. It is no longer 

 left to the great nations bordering on the Atlantic to send exploring expe- 

 ditions to the Pacific. The State of California, only born in 1850, has so 

 rapidly attained maturity that when she was barely ten years old she con- 

 sidered science a necessary part of her political constitution, and organized a 

 " State Geological Survey," under the direction of Prof. Whitney. To this 

 survey Dr. J. G. Cooper (whose collections for the Pacific Railway Explora- 

 tions have already been reported, vide pp. 597-601) was appointed zoologist, 

 and Mr. \V. M. Gabb (formerly of Philadelphia) paleontologist. The friendly 

 relations established with both these gentlemen at the Smithsonian Institu- 

 tion not only put them in possession of the special desiderata on the present 

 branch of inquiry, but have resulted in unreserved interchange of facts and 

 opinions, by means of which a large instalment of the malacological results 

 of the Survey can be embodied in this Report. Dr. Cooper has not only ex- 

 plored the whole coast and the neighbouring islands from Monterey to San 

 Diego, but has dredged extensively from shoal-water to 120 fathoms, keeping 

 accurate lists of all acquisitions from each locality. Having an artist's 

 pencil as well as a naturalist's eye, he has drawn the animals from life, and 

 already subjected many of them to dissection. The war has to some extent 

 suspended the operations of the survey; but it is confidently expected that 

 the State will do justice to herself by issuing, with suitable illustrations, 

 the full results of her officers' labours. The first public notice of the mol- 

 luscs appears in the Proc. Cal. Ac. N.S., Nov. 3rd, 1862, pp. 202-207. 

 Here Dr. Cooper, speaking of the new species, writes with a modesty which 

 is not always credited to American naturalists by Europeans, "As they 

 may have been collected either by the N.W. Boundary Survey or at Cape 

 St. Lucas, it has been considered safest, in order to avoid confusion, to send 

 specimens or drawings of them to [the writer], that he may compare 

 them with the above collections, and decide whether they are really new." 

 He gives valid reasons, however, for describing the following soft Mollusca. 

 Unfortunately for French and German naturalists, the diagnoses are in 

 English only. 



Page. 



20'2. Strategic (n. g.) imrmis, n. s. More highly organized than any other genus 

 of Opisthobranchiata ; creeps slowly among the grasses in the muddy parts 

 of San Diego Bay, looking like a large caterpillar. Not uncommon. 



203. Pletirophyllidia Californica, n. s. Closely resembles P. lineata of S. Europe. 



" From the distance of locality there can, however, be no identity of 

 species." [?] Numerous in Dec., crawling and bun-owing on sandy flats 

 in San Diego Bay; none in Jan., after the floods. [Dr. Cooper writes that 

 the body of fresh water was so great in some places as to kill the marine 

 molluscs for a considerable distance beyond the estuaries, and thus mate- 

 rially alter the pre-existent fauna.] 



204. Doris Monterey ensis, n. s., 6-10 fm., adhering to sandstone. Monterey Bay, 



very rare. Small specimens in San Francisco Bay, Frick. 



204. Doris (Asteronotus) sanguined, n. s. Under stones in San Diego Bay ; rare. 

 204. Doris (? Asteronotus) alabastrina, n. s. Under stones in S. Diego Bay. One sp. 



204. Doris (? Actinocyclus) Sandiegensis, n. s. Very active among grass on mud- 



flats near low- water mark, San Diego Bay ; common before the flood. 



205. jEolis (? Flabdlina) opalescens, n. s. Common among grass in San Diego Bay. 

 205. Atolis (? Phidutna) iodinea, n. s. Among algae on rocks outside San Diego 



Bay. 



207. Tritonia Palmeri, n. s. San Diego, common " in same localities as the Di- 

 phyttidia. Named after Mr. Edward Palmer, a zealous naturalist, who 

 assisted me while at San Diego." 



94 



