Manchester Memoirs, Vol. xlii. (1898), No, 4, 3 



I am indebted, too, to Mr. G. B. Sowerby for letting 

 me inspect a few Mollusca collected on the Mekran Coast 

 and in the neighbourhood of Karachi by Mr. J. O. Twells, 

 one of which, a toothless Nerita, seems undescribed. 



As heretofore, to Mr. Ernest R. Sykes, Mr. E. A. 

 Smith, and especially Mr. Hugh Fulton, very best 

 acknowledgments are due. The latter has much aided me 

 with close examination of critical forms. Mr. Robert 

 Standen has also been most kind in his help, and I am 

 much obliged to him. 



It will not, I think, be amiss here to print in extenso 

 a short account of Mr. Townsend's collecting grounds, 

 supplied to me by him, and given in his own words, as 

 follows : 



" The extent of the Mekran Coast does not seem to 

 be generally realized, comprising, as it does, over 500 miles 

 of coast in a direct E. and W. line, Karachi being at the 

 Eastern, and Jask at the Western extremity. It naturally 

 follows that only a very few spots have been exploited, 

 and, with the exception of Karachi, it cannot be said that 

 even now any one place has been thoroughly worked out. 

 Karachi offers a fairly rich field to the collector, consider- 

 ing its limited area, both as regards littoral and dredged 

 species, the number already named and classified being 

 about 750, and there are still many unidentified species, 

 which do not appear in the list, and which are now being 

 gradually worked out. 



" The extensive mud flats of the Karachi Harbour 

 backwater have not, so far, yielded many varieties, but 

 this may be due to the fact that they have been but 

 slightly investigated. The mud is mostly of a very soft 

 nature, and the labour entailed by walking even a short 

 distance is very great, and to that may be added the risk 

 of contracting malarial fever by stirring up noxious gases. 

 The reefs to the west of the harbour are composed of 



