NOTE ON THE LOCALITY OF HELIX MANDARINA, Gray. 



BY EDGAR A. SMITH, F.Z.S. 



THIS well-known species was described by 

 Dr. Gray,* from specimens obtained by 

 Captain F. W. Beechey's expedition to the 

 Pacific, during the years 1825 to 1828. The 

 locality given by Gray, I am inclined to 

 believe erroneous. It has never been con- 

 firmed, but, at the same time I should 

 observe, no other locality has been assigned 

 to this shell. In 1889, Mr. Yokoyama, of 

 the Tokio University, Japan, presented a 

 specimen to the British Museum, which he 

 said was collected at the Bonin or Arzobispo 

 Islands, as they are also called. Later on in 

 that year, the Museum received a second 

 example from the same locality, and a third 

 specimen, the largest I have seen, has just 

 been obtained from Mr. Hoist, who collected 

 it himself on these islands. 



On turning to Captain Beechey's work,'^ 

 I find, that after leaving Macao in China, 

 the " Blossom " proceeded to the Loo Choo 

 Islands, thence to the Bonin Islands, Kamts- 

 chatka, and Behring Straits. I think, there- 

 fore, there is every probability that Captain 



* Zool., Beechey's Voy.ige, p. 143, pi. 34, f. 2 ; pi. 38, f. 3. 



t Narrative of a Voyage to the Pacific, in H.M.S. Blossom, 

 1825-8, Vol. ii., p. 228. 



Beechey's specimens were obtained at the 

 Bonin Islands, seeing that the 'expedition 

 visited there, and not at Loo Choo as originally 

 supposed. 



The variability of this shell in form has 

 been remarked upon by Gray and Pfeiffer, 

 but no reference has been made to any 

 variation in colour. The normal form is of 

 a rich reddish-brown colour, encircled with 

 a pale zone at the periphery. In some 

 specimens the ground-colour is lighter, and 

 the pale zone at the periphery is replaced 

 by one or more bright red bands. Two 

 specimens in the Museum, both of which 

 have been occupied by Paguri, are peculiar 

 in having a pale roughish ridge on the base 

 of the body-whorl surrounding the umbilical 

 region. It has the appearance of being the 

 result of an injury or disease ; still its occur- 

 rence in two out of nine specimens is 

 remarkable. 



Figures of this species, besides that already 

 referred to in Gray's work, have appeared 

 in ^^ Beeve's ConcJwlogia Iconica" Vol. vii., ])1. 

 76, f. 401, and in the '' Conchy lien- Cabinet " 

 ed. 2, Helix, pi. 140, f. 15-16. 



No. 2. June, 1891. 



