1890.] ON THE MARINE MOLLUSCA OF ST. HELENA. 247 



produce darker cross bands very indistinctly perceptible in certain 

 lights. 



Total length 50 inches ; depth of the body behind the head l^ 

 inch ; depth of the body in the middle of the length H inch ; depth 

 of the body above the vent 7 lines ; length of the head, without 

 process 3 inches ; length of the head with the process .5 inches 

 3 lines ; diameter of the eye 9 lines ; length of the pectoral 

 10 lines ; length of one of the longest dorsal ravs 1 inch 6 lines. 



The first figure (Plate XIX.) represents the entire fish, much 

 reduced, with the first dorsal ray restored to its supposed original 

 length and form ; the second figure (Plate XX.) the head of the 

 natural size. 



3. Report on the Marine Molluscan Fauna of the Island of 

 St. Helena. By Edgar A. Smith. 



[Received March 14, 1890.] 

 (Plates XXI.-XXIV.) 



The materials which form the basis of this Report consist mainly 

 of a very extensive series of shells, about 2.500 in number, collected 

 at St. Hielena by Capt. W. H. Turton, R.E., during the years 1884-6, 

 and which he subsequently most liberally presented to the British 

 Museum. 



A series of small shells, presented to the Museum in 1857 by 

 E. W. Alexander, Esq., has also been worked through. A few 

 specimens dredged by Dr. Wallich about the year 1857, others re- 

 ceived from Sir George Grey in 1841, a small collection frotn the 

 Museum of Econoaiic Geology in 1860, and, finally, a set of the 

 specimens collected by Mr. J. C. Melliss and enumerated in his book 

 on St. Helena, have been examined. 



The greatest praise is due to Capt. Turton for the excellent 

 manner in which the collection was made and put up for transmission 

 to this country ; and the amount of time and labour bestowed upon 

 it must have been very considerable. 



The majority of the species are very small and were obtained " l)v 

 sifting the sand and shingle which is found in a few places on the 

 coast," and by dredging in depths up to about 80 fathoms, chiefly, 

 but not exclusively, off the north of the island. A few were picked 

 out of a hard kind of conglomerate of shells and sand, about four 

 feet above high-water mark, in a bay on the north coast. This 

 conglomerate is found in the crevices of rocks which have fallen 

 down from the high cliffs above, quite recently, and probably it got 

 washed up into that position by some high tide, such as occurs 

 there every few years. Some of the specimens were found on pieces 

 of a substance, locally called " Sea-horn " ^, which is sometimes 



^ Doubtless tliese pieces of " Sea-horn " are poi'tions of a large species of 

 Tangle, probably Echlonia btcccinalis, which is very thick and horny, aud occurs 

 at the Cape of Good Hope, whence these fragments had drifted. 



