MARINE PROVINCES, 163 



inore like the Indian Ocean fauna, as might be expected from 

 the direction of the currents. But, together with these it has 

 a large assemblage of marine animals fonnd nowhere else, and 

 the "■ Cape of Storms " forms a barrier between the populations 

 of the two great oceans, scarcel}^ less complete than the far- 

 projecting promontoiy of South America. The coast is generally 

 rocky, and there are no coral-reefs ; accumulations of sand are 

 frequent, and sometimes yerv extensive, like the Agulhas Bank. 

 The few deep-sea shells which have been obtained off these 

 banks possess considerable interest, but explorations in boats 

 are said to be ditiicult, and often impossible on account of the 

 surf. Shells from the Cape are too frequently dead and water- 

 worn specimens picked up on the beach. The shell-fish of South 

 Africa have been collected and described hy Quoy and Gaimard, 

 Owen Stanley, Hinds, A. Adams, and especially by Dr. Krauss, 

 who has published a very complete monograph. Of 400 sea- 

 shells recorded in this work, above 200 are peculiar, and most 

 of these belong to a few littoral genera. Only 1 1 species are 

 common to the coast of Senegal, whilst 18 are found in the Red 

 Sea ; 15 species are said to be found in Europe ; all the others, not 

 peculiar, exist on the E. coast of Africa. The following are 

 remarkably developed : Chiton, 16 species; Patella, 20 species ; 

 Fissurella, 10 species ; Trochus, 22 species ; Phasianella, 6 species ; 

 Cyprsea, 22 species. 



The following are stated to be common to the Cape and 

 European seas : 



Saxicava (arctica ?) Greenland, Area lactea, Medit. 



Medit. Chama gryphoides, Medit. Red 

 Tellina fabula, Brit. Medit. Sea. 



Lucina lactea, Medit. Red Sea. Pecten pusio, Brit. 



'' fragilis, Medit. 



Yenus verrucosa, W. Indies? Diphyllidia (lineata?) N. Brit. 



Brit. Senegal, Canaries, Red Medit. 



Sea, Australia? Eulima nitida, Medit. 



Tapes pullastra. North Sea. Nassa marginulata. 



" geographica, Medit. Argonauta argo, Medit. 



At the islands of St. Paul and Amsterdam, situated midway 

 between the Cape and Australia, Velain collected 60 species, 46 

 of which he described as new. 



VIII. Indo-Pacific Py^ovince. 



This is by far the most extensive area over which similar 

 shell-fish and other marine animals are distributed. It extends 

 from E. Australia to S. Japan, and from the Red Sea and east 

 coast of Africa to Easter Island in the Pacific, embracing three- 

 fifths of the circumference of the globe and 45 '^ of latitude. 



