MELVILL: BRITISH PIONEERS IN CONCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE. 207 



all denominations, and Conchologists will find among other 

 interesting details an account of the peculiar shell fauna of the 

 Gallapagos Islands. 



The voyage of the "Beagle," so happy in its naturalists and 

 so. fruitful of subject matter for theorists and students at home, 

 no doubt paved the way for similar expeditions; and in the year 

 1836 the voyage of H.M.S. "Sulphur," under command of Sir 

 Edward Belcher, R.N., and Lieut. Comm. Kellett, commanding 

 the " Starling," started on its expedition to West American 

 shores. For seven years the cruise lasted, and it was not till 

 1844 that Mr. Richard Brinsley Hinds, the surgeon to the 

 expedition, published the account of the Mollusca. This 

 gentleman was one of the best conchologists of the time. 

 Very few of his species have ever been questioned, and his 

 discoveries seem to have been more in the rarer and more 

 choice genera. His accuracy in exactly recording the situation, 

 depth, &c., of each species obtained, either by means of the dredge 

 or at low water, serves as an example for all. The "Sulphur" ex- 

 plored the west coast of Central America and Mexico as far as 

 San Bias, and afterwards from Acapulco to Cerro Azul, having 

 previously visited Callao and Payta, in Peru, and also Panama. 

 Mr. Hinds, unfortunately, did not long survive this ex- 

 pedition. 



The Antarctic voyage of the "Erebus" and "Terror," which 

 lasted for seven years (1836 — -1843), under the command of 

 Captain Sir James C. Ross, who had had full experience under 

 Sir Edward Parry in the Arctic regions ten years previously in 

 the "Hecla," was happy in the scientific officers of the expedi- 

 tion, especially Dr., (now Sir,) John D. Hooker, who wrote the 

 botany of the voyage. Dr. J. E. Gray edited the zoological 

 portion. The mollusca were not very largely collected. Mr. 

 Edgar Smith has within the last fifteen years (1874) published 

 an account of them with four plates. 



The late Philip Barker Webb lived almost entirely away 

 from his native country, and his famous collections are, I be- 



