ON MOLLUSCA OP THE WEST COAST OF NORTH AMERICA. 241 



Cardium Nuttalli. California. Fissurella ornata. 



Trigonia radiata, var. Hindsii. Haliotis Cracherodii, Leach. 



Modiola capax. " S. America." [?] Purpura Carolensis. Is. Plata. 



Pinna rudis. Gulf of California. Murexfoliatus. San Juan de Fuaco. 



51. But the largest collection ever brought to Europe from one locality 

 (with the single exception of Mr. Cuming's stores) was made at Mazatlan 

 during the years 1848-50 by a Belgian gentleman of the name of Frederick 

 Reigen. He did not live to enjoy the fruits of his almost unparalleled 

 labours; and after his death in 1850, the collection was sent for sale, partly 

 to Messrs. F. de Lizardi and Co. at Liverpool, and partly to Havre. The 

 Liverpool portion measured about 14? tons of 40 cubic feet each. It was 

 bought by Mr. G. Hulse, wholesale naturalist in Dale Street ; but before it 

 passed into his hands, it received such an examination as time allowed from 

 Mr. F. Archer, in whose collection, and in that of the Royal Institution, the 

 first unmixed fruits will be found. Unfortunately the geographical value of 

 these selections is greatly injured by trusting to memory and loose tickets ; and 

 the localities of the Institution specimens have simply been added from the 

 monographs, as 'Galapagos,' ' Panama,' ' St. Elena,' &c. Mr. Hulse fortunately 

 deposited the bulk of the collection under lock and key in a chamber by 

 itself ; but to save room, he immediately disposed of most of the large shells, 

 such as Spondylus calcifer, Patella Mexicana, Strombus galea, and the 

 Pinnae, to a publican near Manchester, where they may be seen in his 

 " Museum." Circumstances enabled me to make a searching examination 

 of Mr. Hulse's stores, and to form a geographical collection from their con- 

 tents*. Finding that in a small manufacturing town this could not be made 

 available for the purposes of science, I acceded to the request of Dr. Gray that 

 it should be deposited in the British Museum; it being stipulated (1) that I 

 should be allowed to arrange it in its permanent abode, where it should re- 

 main intact as a separate collection ; and (2) that a descriptive catalogue 

 should be published of its contents. The duty of preparing this was en- 

 trusted to me by Dr. Gray. The work is already written, and most of it 

 printed. When completed, it will be found to contain descriptions of 222 

 new species ; in addition to several which had been previously described 

 from the same collection in the ' Proc. Zool. Soc' and other works. Numerous 

 details are added on species already known, especially on the variations of 

 growth, geographical range, frequency, and synonymy. 



Being desirous of making the permanent collection of the British Museum 

 as complete as possible, and finding that the original stores were in danger 

 of being dispersed, and so rendered useless for science, I obtained possession 

 of the remainder of the vast collection, and subjected it to a renewed and 

 more rigid scrutiny. There will, therefore, be preserved in the B.M. drawers, 

 not only the type specimens of the described species ; but what will perhaps 

 be of more service to inland students, because less often accessible, large series 

 illustrating particular species, and displaying both their normal and their abnor- 

 mal variations. Thus, of Donax punctatostriatus will be found 192; of D. 

 Conradi \_-\-culter, Hani. + contusus, Rve. + Calif brnicus, Desh.J, 292; of 

 Anomalocardia subrugosa, 130.; of Venus gnidia, 59 ; of Anomia lampe, 97 ; 

 of Neritina picta, 607 ; and of Acmcea mesoleuca, 301 specimens ; every one 

 of which exhibits an appreciable difference from its neighbours. The latter 



* Of this collection, amounting then to 440 species, an account was laid before the British 

 Association at Liverpool : v. Reports, 1854, p. 107. The list was examined by Prof. Forbes, 

 and much assistance obtained from his experience. That assistance was promised during the 

 course of the present inquiry, and would have prevented many of the errors attendant on it; 

 but within a week after he had written to recommend the transfer of the collection to the 

 British Museum, he had passed to the scenes where human aid is no longer needed, and where 

 human errors find no place. 



1856. r 



