150 MESSES. J. C. MELVILL AND E. STANDEE ON 



Eeport on the Marine Mollusca obtained during the Pirst Expe- 

 dition of Prof. A. C. Haddon to the Torres Straits, in 1888-89. 

 By JA.MES Cosmo Melvill, M.A., F.L.S., P.Z.S., and Eobeet 



Standee, Assistant-Keeper, Manchester Museum. 



[Read 16th February, 1899.] 

 (Plates 10 & 11.) 



Eaelt in 1898 Prof. Alfred Cort Haddon, before starting upon 

 a fresh journey of exploration to -New Guinea, the coasts of 

 tropical North Australia, and Queensland, favoured us with the 

 request that we would take charge of all the Marine Mollusca 

 collected at low tides, or dredged, during his first expedition to 

 the same region, ten years previously, on the understanding that 

 we would catalogue them and decribe any new forms. This 

 large mass of material had been for a long period lying at 

 Cambridge, almost untouched, only a very few species having 

 been identified by the Eev. A. H. Cooke. 



The general condition of the specimens contained in the col- 

 lection is, as might be expected^ variable ; but, though many 

 of them are only in a fragmentary state, and the larger pro- 

 portion of the Pelecypoda are mainly represented by single valves, 

 they are in only rare instances past recognition, and, with the 

 exception of an exceedingly small residuum, we have succeeded 

 to our satisfaction in the work of identification. 



Some few indeed, maialy Poljplacophora of three or four 

 kinds, also Haliotidce and various Gyprece, are preserved in 

 spirit, but all these Mollusca are well known, both anatomically 

 and systematically. 



The collection is, we consider, of more than usual interest, 

 since its component parts differ in several notable particulars 

 from the gatherings previously made in the same neighbourhood, 

 thus tending to prove the extraordinary richness of moliuscan 

 life to be found there. And the area is by no means large, geo- 

 graphically speaking. Situate Long. 142° to 144° E., and Lat. 9° 

 to 11° S., it is hardly more than 75 miles from the mainland of 

 New Guinea, or at all events Saibai Island, to Cape York, 

 N. Australia ; this narrowing of the passage between the Arafura 

 and the Coral Seas, through which the South Equatorial Current 

 pours its waters, beiug some 90 miles in width, and universally 

 known as the Torres Straits. 



