132 Helix asjjersa in California. 



especially by the extreme liberality with which they have presen- 

 ted them to public museums wherever they thought they could 

 be made useful. The shells were deposited in the Museum of 

 Practical Geology in Jermyn Street, London, then presided over 

 by Prof. E. Forbes. He writes that ' they were chiefly collected 

 on the coast of Southern California, from San Diego to Magdalena, 

 and the shores of Mazatlan.' " Carpenter continues, saying, " this 

 is precisely the very district of all others on which we are in 

 want of accurate information. San Diego belongs mainly to 

 the Calif ornian j^rovince, Mazatlan to that of Panama ; the 

 question yet to be settled is, where and how do they separate ? 

 Here was an exploration in competent hands, on the very terra 

 incognita itself; and yet, alas! Prof. E. Forbes further states, 

 that " unfortunately the precise locality of many of the indi- 

 vidual specimens had not been noticed at the time ; and a quan- 

 tity of Polynesian shells mingled with them, have tended to 

 render the value of the collection, as illustrative of d'stribution, 

 less exact than it might have been." Such information as was 

 accessible at the time was embodied by Prof. E. Forbes, in two 

 communications to the Zoological Society, 1850 ; the first on the 

 Land Shells, collected during the Expedition. Proc, pp. 53 — 

 56 ; the second on the Marine Mollusca, pp. 270 — 274." * * * 



It would expand this pajDer unduly to quote the entire para- 

 graph, so I will only add the following, from the same author, 

 from the same and following pages : 



^' Helix Pandorm, Forbes, p. 55, pi. 9, f. 3 ; a, h. Sta. Bar- 

 bara, as per box-label : San Juan del Fuaco, teste Forbes. 

 — Kellettii, Fbs. p. 55, pi. 9, f. 2 ; a, h. Allied to H. Californi- 

 ensis, Lea. Same locality. *********** 

 — asjjersa, marked Sta. Barbara; i)robab!y imported, p. 53." 



Then follows a list of the marine forms described by Prof. 

 Forbes, succeeded by Carpenter's remarks : "The types of the 

 described species, and numerous most beautiful and interesting 

 specimens, have been prestntcd to the British Museum. The 

 remainder may be seen by students in the drawers of the Mus. 

 Pract. Geol. ; but the condition of the labels is net such that 

 any dependence can be placed on them, unless confirmed from 

 other sources. * * * 



"So large a number, even of those placed with the Mazatlan 



