172 BULLETIN OF THE 
In 1881, however, 1 was able to prepare preliminary descriptions of 
some of the more striking novelties (Bull. Mus. Comp. Zodl., Vol. IX. 
No. 2,* pp. 33-144) and enumerate some of the more remarkable forms 
in the collection which had been described already. The dredgings of 
the U. S. Fish Commission having produced a number of deep-water 
species of limpets and chitons,— which were generously submitted to 
me for study by Prof. A. E. Verrill in charge of that material, — the 
investigation was facilitated by the possession of the Blake collection, and 
the study of the whole brought about the publication, in 1882,7 of some 
extremely interesting facts in regard to these groups of mollusks. 
Lastly, the investigation of the literature necessary for this work, and 
for the determination of the Tertiary fossils of the Southeastern United 
States, culminated in the preparation, under my supervision, of a general 
index to the species reported from the coast and islands of the region 
between Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, and Cape San Roque at the 
northeastern extremity of South America, including the Bermudas and 
West Indies. This is the first attempt to bring together the names of 
the alleged species said to inhabit this region, though there have been 
a number of excellent local catalogues. The list was found so useful for 
both biological and paleontological purposes, that it was printed by the 
U. S. Geological Survey as one of its Bulletins} A short article on the 
characters of Dimya, based on the study of the soft parts, first collected 
by the Blake expedition, was printed in Science (No. 2, Feb. 16, 1882, 
p. 51). 
= This Bulletin was first published in signatures, distributed as soon as printed 
to those most interested, as follows: pp. 33-48, July 12, 1881; pp. 49-64, Aug. 12, 
1881; pp. 65-80, Aug. 25, 1881; pp. 81-96, Sept. 26, 1881; pp. 97-112, Oct. 31, 1881; 
pp. 113-128, Nov. 26, 1881; and the remaining pages and index, Dec. 5, 1881. By 
the great kindness of the Rev. R. Boog Watson, who supplied me promptly with 
his preliminary descriptions of the Challenger gastropods, of Dr. Paul Fischer, and 
of the late Drs. Thomas Davidson and J. Gwyn Jeffreys, who, working on deep- 
sea material, were equally considerate, I was enabled to complete this preliminary 
work without clashing in the matter of priority ; all the descriptions of particular 
groups in the Bulletin alluded to being either intentionally subsequent or clearly 
prior to the work of the above-mentioned gentlemen on the same groups. It need 
hardly be said, that, when they led the way I was greatly the gainer from the ac- 
knowledged experience and ability with which their tasks were performed, and 
which greatly lessened my own labors. 
+ “On certain Limpets and Chitons from the deep Waters off the Eastern Coast 
of the United States, by W. H. Dall.” Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., Vol. IV. pp. 400- 
414, April, 1882. 
i Bulletin U. S. Geological Survey, No. 24, 336 pp., 8vo. Washington, Govern- 
ment Printing Office, 1885. 
