INTRODUCTION TO THE MOLLUSCA. 



_L HE portions of the bed of the ocean subject to examination during the Voyage of H.M.S. 

 Sarnarang comprised the coasts of that portion of the volcanic zone of islands termed the 

 Banda Group, including Java, Timor, Ternate, &c, from thence to the great chain com- 

 mencing with Gillolo, Borneo, and Celebes, northwards through the -Philippine Islands and 

 Bashee Group to the north-east, through the Loo-Choo Archipelago, the Meiacoshima 

 Islands, and Corean Archipelago, as far as Japan ; and homeward across the Indian Ocean, 

 visiting the lagoon islands of Keeling, the great barrier reef and islets of St. Brandon, the 

 Mauritius, and the Agulhas Bank, to the Cape of Good Hope. 



In the Straits of Sunda an opportunity was afforded of examining for the first time 

 the animal of Phorus, six out of seven species of which are natives of these seas. Passing 

 through the Straits of Gaspar, the soundings varied from sixteen to twenty fathoms, the 

 floor being soft mud : the Mollusca obtained were species of Clavatula, Pleurotoma, Phos, 

 Ringicula, Ovulum, and Erato. In that portion of the China Sea which lies between the 

 extremity of the peninsula of Malacca and the island of Borneo, we obtained Orassatella 

 radiata, Cancellaria antiquata, Corhula tunicata and crassa, several species of Cylichna, 

 Ringicula, Nucula, Pleurotoma, Marginella tricincta, and single valves of the Cardilia semi- 

 sulcata, besides Phorus Indicus and Solarioides, Terebellum subulatum, and Rostellaria Jissa. 

 The China Sea, forming one of the narrow gulfs or divisions of the great Pacific Ocean, 

 enclosed by Borneo, the Philippines, and Formosa, seems to resemble a shallow basin, the 

 floor of which is formed of mud, gravel, and the debris of dead shells ; and although probably 

 the sediment of the numerous large rivers, which carry down mud, sand, and gravel, would 



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