400 FUNAFUTI ATOLL. 



No one will to-day affirm that so brief an account suffices for 

 the recognition of this species. Consequently there is every pro- 

 bability that it has been, or will be, again named and described to 

 the confusion of science. In so numerous and difficult a group, a 

 description a page long and several detailed figures are barely 

 enough to determine a species in the absence of authentic specimens. 

 It would be supposed that this view only required to be stated for 

 every worker to endorse it, but for sixty-five years British writers 

 have passed over this inadequate account and neglected to repair 

 the fault. So recently as last year, Melvill and Standen in treat- 

 ing of the shells of Lifu, examined and catalogued this species, 

 yet it never occurred to them that a figure and description was 

 more urgently needed for /. collaris than for any of the hundred 

 novelties they figured and described. 



Great numbers of the species of Adams, Hinds, Smith and 

 others are inadequately represented in literature, and cannot be 

 recognised without an inspection of the type in London. Either 

 therefore no. Conchological work should be published except by 

 residents of London, which is an absurd proposition, or these 

 species must be ignored by naturalists. 



The local conditions under which the Funafuti mollusca occur 

 may be briefly sketched. The distinction between the marine and 

 terrestrial mollusca, so sharply drawn in temperate zones, fades 

 away in the tropics. At a distance from the sea, in close associa- 

 tion with such forms as Stenogyra and Endodonta, occur Littorina, 

 Nerita, Truncatella and Melampus. The outer windward beach, 

 where the surf sweeps the narrow reef platform, is only accessible 

 at intervals when a low tide coincides with calm weather. Here 

 the molluscan assemblage bears the mark of incessant buffeting of 

 waves, all are characterised by powerful muscular feet which 

 adhere to the rock like the sucker foot of the limpet, all have 

 thick shells mostly strengthened by knobs or ridges. In the little 

 rock pools at the foot of the shingle beach, swarm the gaily painted 

 shells of Engina mendi'caria, Mitra literata, Conus hebraeus and 

 C. ceylonensis. Beyond, where the surf breaks more heavily, are 

 several species of Sistrum, usually nestled in a rock crevice and 

 more or less concealed by extraneous growth upon their shells. 

 Here also are Purpura armigera and P. hippocastaneum, and on 

 the brink of deep water is Turbo setosus. 



It comes as a surprise to a naturalist to find the pelagic fauna 

 scarce in this latitude. Dr. Kramer tells me that he was greatly 

 struck by the poverty of the tropical Pacific in this respect. One 

 Pteropod, one Heteropod, and a fragment of lanthina were all of 

 this class that came under my notice. 



The quiet waters of the lagoon prove a richer field for a collector 

 than the storm swept ledges of the ocean beach. Just at the 



