3918 The Zoologist— March, 1874. 



IroxtcMngs of Snciitific ^0(idits. 



LiNNEAN Society of London. 



January 15, 1874. — George Bentham, Esq., F.R.S., President, in the 

 chair. 



Dr. Hooker exhibited a very beautiful series of specimens of fossil copal, 

 the product of Tracbjlobium Hornemanuiauum, some specimens of recent 

 copal from the same plant, and some fruits of a Momordica, all forwarded 

 from Zanzibar by Dr. Kirk, for the Kew Museum. 



A framed plate of coloured drawings of edible and poisonous British 

 Fungi, presented to the Society by Mr. Thomas Walker, was e.xhibited. 



The following papers were then read : — 



1. "On some Species of Japanese Marine Shells and Fishes which inhabit 

 also the North Atlantic." By Mr. J. Gwyn Jeffreys. The Mollusca noticed 

 by the author were procured by Capt. St. John in H.M.S. ' Sylvia,' during 

 the years 1871 and 1872, on the coasts of North Japan. His dredgings 

 varied between three and one hundred fathoms. After passing in review 

 the works of naturalists who had described the marine shells of Japan, and 

 especially the 'Mollusca Japonica' of Dr. Lischke, with reference to those 

 species which are common to Japan and Europe, Mr. Jeffreys proposed to 

 record from Capt. St. John's dredgings thirty-nine species, and to give the 

 range of depth for such of them as he had obtained in the 'Porcupine' 

 expeditions of 18G9 and 1870. He then offered an explanation of the 

 occurrence of the same species in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, by sug- 

 gesting that it was probably owing to involuntary transport by tides and 

 currents, and not to voluntary migration. Very little is known about the 

 direction and force of deep-sea currents ; but high northern species might 

 be transported on the one side to Japan and on the other to Europe by a 

 bifurcation of the great Arctic current, which has been traced as far south 

 as the Straits of Gibraltar in the course of the ' Porcupine ' expeditions. 

 The entry of northern species into the Mediterranean may be accounted for 

 by the former existence of a wide channel, or rather an open sea between 

 the lower part of the Bay of Biscay and the Gulf of Lyons, which has been 

 satisfactorily proved on geological grounds to have been formed since the 

 Tertiary epoch. A list of the Mollusca referred to in the paper was given, 

 with critical remarks, as well as a list of twenty-two species of fish which 

 Dr. Giinther communicated as common to the Japanese Seas and the North 

 Atlantic or Mediterranean. 



After the reading of the paper. Captain St. John was called on by 

 the President, and stated that he hoped in future cruises to be able 



