OV MOLLUSCA OF THE WEST COAST OF NORTH AMERICA. 631 



110. At the time of the preparation of the first Report, not a sinirle 

 naturalist was known in Europe to be resident on the western slop- of >'cn th 

 America, to whom communications could be addressed on the subject of it. 

 There was, however, even at that time, a " Californian Academy of Natural 

 Sciences," which met at 8. Francisco, and published its * Procetdinjfs.' Tbis 

 Academy is now in a flourishin{j; condition, uiuler the presidency of Col. L. 

 Hansom. The general zoologit al department is under the care of Dr. J. G. 

 Cooper; the shells under that of Dr. J. 1{. Trask. Vice- President of the Academy, 

 whose name has already api)eared in Judj^e Cooper's llepurt. antei'i, p. oi)7 ; 

 and the fossils under that of Mr. W. M. (iabb. The corresponding!; secretary 

 is Dr. W. 0. Ayres ; and the lilirarian Prof. J. D. Whitney, the director of 

 the State Geological Survey. Alreadj- the nucleus has been formed of a very 

 valuable collection, many of the critical species in which have been sent to 

 England for identification. The coasting-trade between S. Francisco and 

 many stations in L. California, the (Julf, and the ilexican coast, offers pecu- 

 liar facilities for obtaining valuable information. Two of the contributors to 

 the Californian Academy require special and grateful mention. Dr. Wesley 

 Newcomb (whose labours had greatly enriched the State Collection at his 

 native city, Albany, Xew York, and whose researches among the ArhatineUat 

 in the Sandwich Islands are well known) is stationed at Oakland, near Fran- 

 cisco, and has already furnished valuable papers, an abstract of which is here 

 given, as well as emendations and additions to the British Association Report, 

 •which are included in their appropriate places*. The Rev. J. Howell has long 

 been a regular correspondent of the Smithsonian Institution, and has sub- 

 mitted the whole of his West-coast collections for analysis. He has dis- 

 played peculiar industry in searching for small species on the 1 acks of the 

 larger shells, especially the Haliotids of the Californian coast, and the Ostri-a 

 iriilescens, which is imported in large quantities from Acapulco for the San 

 Francisco mai ^et f. 



In the ' Proc. California Ac. Xat. Sc.,' vol. i. pp. 28-30, Feb. 1855, Dr. 

 J. B. Trask pu1)lished descriptions of Anodonfa Uandalli, Tra.sk, Upper San 

 Joaquin; Annrlonta ^nV//)</«7rtm, Trask, Sacramento River: Anodonta votund- 

 ovata, Trask, Sacramento Vallc}- ; Ahismodonta Fubaetisis, Trask, Yuba River. 



In the ' Ann. Lye. X. H. Xew York,' vol. vii. 18G0, p. 146, Dr. Xewcomb 

 describes the first Fuj^a found on the Pacific slope, viz. Piij^a liowellu, Xewc. 

 Xear Oakland, Cal. " Approaches nearest to P. ovata, Say." 



♦ The " Chiton amicidafus," Newc, MS., = Cr>/pfochif on Sfe'Ieri. " Rare near S. Fran- 

 cisco ; somewhat more abundant in the Bay of Monterey." His " Pa7ioj)<ea fft.ierosa," in 

 the Albany Museum, was found to be Schizoftxerus iiutfaUii. 



t As an instance of the way in which mistakes arise, may be placed on record a series 

 of shells sent to Mr. Rousseau, of Troy, New York, by Jlr. Hilman, formerly of that 

 city, now a resident at San Francisco. Tliey were sent as Californian ; yet, of the thirty- 

 four species which it contained, only one could be called a native of that province. All 

 the rest were tropical, and of that peculiar character which belongs to Acapulco. No 

 doubt, the gentleman had obtained them from a trader to that city. If only a lew species 

 had been sent, mixed with Californian shells, they might have puzzled the learned ; for they 

 were obtained, on the spot, by a gentleman of known integrity. As it was, the magnitude of 

 the error led to its discovery : but in how many similar ca^s sudi error is thought impos- 

 sible ! — Strigilla carnaria; Donax carinatus, puncto-striafus; Heferod. bimaculatus; Cul- 

 lisfa auravtia, chiorxga ; Pefr. rohusfa; Card, consors, hiavgulatum; Liocurd. apicimtm; 

 Trigona radiafa, Hinddi; Annm. svhimbricafa ; Lima tefrica , Siphonuria yigas, lecanitan ; 

 Patella discors, pedicrdiis ; Fiss. rvgosa ; Cruc. imbricafvm, spivosum, umbrella ; Crcp. 

 acuhata; Hipp, antimahts, barbatus; Cerith. uncinafi'm ; Modv.his disculus; Hafica 

 maroccana. catenafa; Pohriices uber; Leitc. cingulata; JEneta harpa; Purp. triangularis. 

 The single shell from the temperate fauna is Glyphis aspera. 



117 



