180 



REPORT — 1856. 



wade through a number of works, at the risk of overlooking what belongs to 

 his purpose : he has also to find that many of the genera have never yet 

 been examined ; and that, while new species are tabulated, the localities of 

 those before known are not given. If materials are yet accessible by which 

 lists could be published of all the shells found by Mr. Cuming at different 

 places, separately, with particulars as to their frequency, as well as station, 

 such a work would be among the most valuable contributions to geographic 

 zoology yet given to the world. All notes of habitat recorded in the Proc. 

 Zool. Soc. 1832-1836, may be considered as very authentic*. After the 

 interruption caused by the second and great expedition of Mr. Cuming to 

 the Philippines, there is of course a possibility of error from the accidental 

 interchange of tickets belonging to different species. It is right to state that 

 the services rendered to malacological scien.ce by the researches of Mr. Cuming 

 are only equalled by the urbanity and readiness with which he allows the use 

 of them to scientific inquirers f, and to which the author is under very 

 peculiar obligations. 



The following are the species observed in the Proc. Zool. Soc. Wherever 

 the localities or stations given in the illustrated Monographs differ from these, 

 the statements in the Proceedings must be regarded as of most authority. 



Page. 



Proc. Zool. Soc— Cuming. 



Chiton % Goodallii, Brod. <P un 



* ' \ sen 



Stokesii, Brod 



limaciformis, Sow 



Elenensis, Sow , 



setosus, Sow 



scabriculus, Sow 



retusus, Soto 



Placunanomia Cummgu,Brod. < 



Dentalium tesseragonum, Sow... 

 Carocolla quadridentata, Brod.., 



Station. 



u. s. & rock -ledges 



exposed situations 



on stones 



under stones 



exposed situations 



under stones 



in mud, on dead 



bivalves & corals 



sandy mud 



woods 



Depth 

 in fms. 



1. W. 



l.'w. 

 1. w. 



i 11 



10-16 



Locality. 



James Island, Gallapagos. 



Ditto ditto. 



Panama, St. Elena. 

 Guacom., Inner Lobos Is. 

 Pan., St. Elen. 

 Guacomayo. 

 Guac, Puerto Portrero. 

 Ditto ditto. 



Gulf of Dulce. 



G.Xocoiyo, P.Port., Xipix 

 G. Dulce. 



* It is necessary, however, to use even these with caution ; as, in the papers purporting to 

 describe shells collected by Mr. Cuming, species are introduced from places which he never 

 visited. All shells quoted from the Gulf of California, Acapulco, and stations north of the Bay 

 of Fonseca, are of this class. These were obtained, but not collected, by Mr. Cuming, and are 

 therefore liable to the errors of his informants. A remarkable instance of the way in which 

 mistakes arise will be found in P. Z. S. 1833, p. 36, where Mr. Sowerby, in describing "shells 

 collected by Mr. Cuming," states that " detached valves were picked up on the sands at Real 

 Llejos and Mazatlan." In Mr. Reeve's Monograph, which is supposed to be of perfect accu- 

 racy in all matters relating to the Cumingian Museum, we read that " a few odd valves of 

 this species were found by Mr. Cuming on the sands at Real Llejos and Mazatlan." 



•f* Mr. Broderip, in commencing the description of the shells collected by Mr. Cuming in 

 his great expedition to the Philippines, 1836-40, deservedly writes (Proc. Zool. Soc. 1840, 

 p. 84), — " Mr. C, by his accurate notes, and the open publication of the places where every 

 one of the multitudinous species and varieties collected by him was found, has mainly assisted 

 in making a complete revolution in this department of the science, and has done more towards 

 giving us data for the geographical distribution of the testaceous Mollusca than any person 

 who has yet lived." 



% Perhaps the first notice of Mr. Cuming's labours occurs in a "Description of several new 

 species of Chitones found on the coast of Chili in 1825, with a few remarks on the method of 

 taking and preserving them, by John Frembley, R.N." (Zool. Journ. vol. iii. 1828, pp. 193— 

 205). Among others, the author describes Chiton Cumingsii, "after his friend Mr. Cuminga 

 of Valparaiso, whose zeal in the pursuit of this interesting science will, he is persuaded, soon 

 make a large addition to our present stock." In connexion with this paper should be read 

 another, by the Rev. Lansdown Guilding, B.A., in the Zool. Journ. vol. v. pp. 25-35, " Ob- 

 servations on the Chitonidoe : St. Vincent, May, 1829." In this paper, the genus A ' canthopleura 

 is properly characterized. 



