583 REPORT— 1863. 



Mya Japonica, n. s. Volcano Bay, Is. Yedo. Closelv related 



to 3/. arenaria : [identical, teste A. Ad.]. 

 Psmntuohia olirarm, n. 8. Bay of Yedo. [Nearly allied to 



Hiatida Nuttalli.'] 

 Pectin Yessoensis, n. 8. Hakodadi. [Resembles Amvuium 



caunnum, Gld.] 

 Purjmra scptcntrionalis, Rve. [=-?*■ cri^pata, var.] ? Japan. 

 ?Iiul/ia Ptrri/i, n. s. Bay of \edo, one sp. dredjred. [= Volut- 



harpa ampulUicva, Midd.l 

 Venentpis Nuttalli, Conr. {^Saxidonms]. Japan. 

 Tellina secta, Conr. Japan. 

 Tapes decmsata, Ln. [Probably T, Petitii, var. or Adanisiu 



Japan.] 

 Ostrea borealis, Ln. Japan. 

 lanthina commidds, Lam. Japan. 

 lanthiiia pruloiiyuta, Blainv. Japan. 



96. At the time that Dr. Gould was describing Dr. Stimpson's Japanese 

 eheUs in the Boston Proc. Ac. X. S., Mr. A. Adams, ll.X., one of the leainod 

 authors of the * Genera of Recent Mollusca,' was making extensive and accu- 

 rate dredgings in the same seas. The new genera and species have been and 

 are being published, in a series of papers, in the Ann. »!k Mag. Nat. Hist, and 

 in the Proc. Zool. Soc, preparatoiy to an intended complete work on the 

 mollusc-fauna of the Eastern Xorth Pacific. The collections of Mr. Adams 

 have already displayed the Japanese existence of several species, astSiphoiuilia 

 Ki'Uettii, Solen fiicariiis, IlomdJopinna sdiiijuimaitt, &e., before supposed to be 

 peculiar to the West coast. Unfortunately for our present purpose, while 

 the comparison of specimens was going on, Mr. Adams was unexpectedly 

 called to service on board H.M.S. ' Majestic,' and was obliged to pack up his 

 collections. Enough has been ascertained, however, to prove that it will be 

 unsafe henceforth to describe species from either coast AWthout compaiisou 

 with those of the opposite shores. 



97. Fadjic Hail road liejiorts. — As it is necessary, in studying any fauna, 

 to make comparisons far round in space, so it is essential to travel far back 

 in time. The fullest aecoimt of the fossils of the AVest Coast of America is 

 to be found in the ' Explorations and Surveys for a Railroad Route from the 

 Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean,' which form ten thick quiirto volumes, 

 copiously illustrated with plates, and published by the U.S. Senate, Wash- 

 ington, 1856 *. The natural-history department was conducted under the 

 superintendence and with the aid of the Smithsonian Institution ; and science 

 is under special obligations to Prof. Spencer S. Baird, the Assistant Secre- 

 tary, for his Reports on the Vertebrate Animals. It would hardly be ex- 

 pected in Europe that the best resume of the zoologj-, the botany, and the 

 geology of the vast region between the Great American desert and the Pacihc 

 should be found in a railroad survey. Unfortunately, it has not been the 

 custom to advertize and sell the valuable documents piinted at the cxi>en.so 

 of the U. S. Government, in the ordinary channels of trade. Thej* often become 

 the perquisites of the members of Congress, and through them of the various 

 em/>loi/es, by whom they are transferred to the booksellers' shelves. The 

 fifth volume of the series is devoted to the explorations of Lieut. Williamson ; 

 the second Part contains the Report by W. P. Blake, geologist and minoro- 

 logist of the expedition. In the A])pendix, Art. II., are found " Dosciip- 

 tious of the Fossil Shells," by T. A. Conrad. They were first pubhshed in the 



• This extremely costly and valuable assemblage of documents was selling ia Wailuiig* 

 ■on, in 186U, at i;5 sterling the set. 



