202 DR. H. DOHRN ON NEW SHELLS. [June 24, 
to suppose they had been prepared by the same hand. I will men- 
tion two remarkable cases as illustrations. A well-known barrier- 
reef extends some hundreds of miles along the north-east coast of 
Australia; its southern limit is near Moreton Bay ; and a reference to 
Maury’s Chart shows this to be the precise point at which a cold cur- 
rent from the South Pole meets the warm equatorial current from the 
east. Again, it appears somewhat remarkable that along the whole 
western coast of North and South America no vestige of coral has 
been found. Mr. H. Cuming informs me that he has dredged iu 
vain for specimens of these characteristic tropical productions in the 
Bay of Panama and at the Galapagos; but the chart shows that 
cold currents from the north and south sweep the whole western 
coasts of America, meeting at the Equator, and then turning away 
into the Pacific, where, under a vertical sun, the water soon becomes 
warm enough for the growth of the various coral-reefs scattered 
about in that ocean. Fresh water and sediment of any kind being 
present act as fatal barriers to the growth of coral; and to these 
causes may generally be traced gaps in reefs, and waste places of 
limited extent in those seas which especially abound in corals. Dana 
has recognized the effect of warm and cold currents in the general 
distribution of corals throughout the warmer seas; and the fact of 
the same influences being at work, and easily recognized, in the 
waters surrounding the British Islands appears sufficiently interest- 
ing to justify me in bringing the subject before this Society. 
6. Norr ON THE SIZE OF A SEAL AT THE TIME OF BIRTH. 
By Dr. J. E. Gray. 
We have received from the Zoological Gardens the body of a 
Ringed Seal (Callocephalus fetidus), that had died soon after its 
birth. It was entirely covered with closely set, well-developed fur 
of a silver-grey colour, being rather browner on the upper surface. 
It is 2 feet 8 inches long, from the tip of the nose to the end of tail ; 
the fore paws are 6, and the hinder 8 inches long, and the latter are 
7 inches wide when expanded. The webs of the feet are covered 
with hair, and the claws are well developed and black. The whiskers 
are white, well developed, and slightly waved. 
7. Descriptions oF New SuHetts. By Dr. H. Dourn. 
1. CATAULUS BLANFORDI. 
Testa subperforata, ovato-fusiformis, solida, confertim striata, 
parum nitens, rufa; spira convexo-turrita, apice obtusiusculo ; 
anfr. 9, convexiusculi, ultimus atéenuatus, antice subascendens ; 
carina umbilicalis compressa, valida, antice viv dilatata; pe- 
riomphalum angustum, costulato-striatum ; apertura subcireu- 
laris ; peristomium aurantiaco-fuscum, incrassatum, valde ex- 
pansum, reflecum, ad anfractum penullimum angustatum, mar- 
