JOURNAL OF CONCHOLOGY. Ig! 
THE MARINE MOLLUSCA OF CORNWALL. 
By GEORGE FOX TREGELLES. 
(Read before the Conchological Society, December 4, 1895). 
’ THE rugged coast-line of Cornwall, pushed out into the Atlantic, 
gives promise of a varied marine fauna in general, and molluscan 
fauna in particular, and the promise is well kept. Forbidding 
as are the western cliffs, we find, nestled among them, along the 
south coast, bights, beaches, and coves, often with stretches of 
rock-pools at low-tide. The sea, too, is very free from sediment, 
and its temperature is equable, so that the conditions are favor- 
able, and the conchologist finds plenty of material on the shore 
and farther out with the dredge. 
To the credit of the county be it said that its inhabitants 
have done much good work among the mollusca, and have not 
left to visitors the discovery of a ¢erra incognita. Jonathan 
Couch of Polperro, and Williams Hockin of Truro, both devoted 
much attention to the study of molluscs, and published locally 
the results of their observations, in 1841 and 1866 respectively. 
It will be seen by the context that many others have followed 
their example, though but few have “‘rushed into print.”* 
The shores of Cornwall are so extensive that it is not sur- 
prising if the whole of them have not been worked with equal 
thoroughness. The following figures shew approximately the 
distribution of species, but allowance must be made for the fact 
that West Cornwall has received more than its share of attention. 
Out of about 350 species of marine mollusca (excluding nudi- 
branchs) we find recorded for 
Basis Commvyalliae. nce eo a 220 Species: 
Wes Conmwalle Crete ssn ce 2u5 GO: 
Scully erg eeten. aMel wetsuits! 8S ool edo: 
* There is a Synopsis of the Fauna and Flora of Cornwall in the Transactions of the 
Penzance Natural History Society, new series, vol. iii., pp. 378-382. 
