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CORRESPONDENCE. 



Letter from Mr M' Andrew to Dr Balfour, relative to a 

 Communication from the late Professor E. Forbes. 



A few notes for a paper " On some points concerning the Natural 

 History of the Azores, by the late Professor E. Forbes," have 

 been placed in my hands for elucidation. They are the result of in- 

 formation furnished by me, and as my lamented friend pointed 

 out to me the bearing which such information had upon his Theory 

 concerning the Origin of the Fauna and Flora of the British 

 Islands, I am enabled to furnish the following statement, which 

 may not be without interest, as recording and explaining certain 

 opinions of the eminent naturalist, who has just been taken from 

 among us. 



Professor E. Forbes has stated, that when in 1846 he published in 

 the 1st volume of the Memoirs of the Geological Survey of Great 

 Britain, his essay " On the Connection between the Distribution 

 of the existing Fauna and Flora of the British Isles, and the Geo- 

 logical Changes which have affected their area, especially during 

 the epoch of the Northern Drift," his theory, that previous to 

 or during the glacial period, the Continent of Europe had extended 

 as far west as the Azores, was inferred from geological and bota- 

 nical phenomena, and that at that time there were no data acces- 

 sible for testing his opinion, by reference to animal life. He says, 

 that if his views were correct, then the terrestrial and marine mo- 

 luscs of- the Azores should be neither peculiar nor American, but 

 Lusitanian types, and species identical with Portuguese molluscs, 

 or those inhabiting the coasts and shores of Madeira and the Ca- 

 naries. " This question,'" he continues, " may now be said in a 

 great measure to be answered ;" and he refers to the accompanying 

 list of 52 species of marine, and 20 species of land mollusca* col- 

 lected in the Azores by my son, James J. M'Andrew, during the 

 last winter. Of these, he states, that all the marine, except two or 

 three critical forms, are Lusitanian, or in a few instances, Canarian 

 species ; and that of the land shells, only three are undescribed 

 types, the remainder being common to the Lusitanian or Atlantic 

 Island fauna. These facts he considers as fully supporting his theory. 



In the notes before me, Professor Forbes also calls attention to 



* I have ventured to make a few corrections in the lists, omitting Mitra nigra, 

 which is identical with M. fusca, and adding Helix lactea, H. crystallina, and 

 H. barbula (Moulet.) The latter received by Professor E. Forbes from Fayal, 

 is, of all, the most peculiarly Lusitanian, having, to the best of my knowledge, 

 only been obtained previously in Portugal and the adjoining Province of Gal- 

 licia in Spain. 



