540 



THE AM E E 1 1 A N NA TURALIST [ Vol. XLIII 



tectibranehs and littoral eephalopods enumerated in our 

 list, it would seem that the average is pretty well main- 

 tained in the case of the Peruvian Province. 



Dismissing the minuter species from consideration as 

 insufficiently known, the more striking characteristics of 

 the Peruvian fauna may be summed up as follows: 



1. There is an unusual proportion of the species which 

 are black or blackish or of a lurid tint. This feature of 

 the fauna has attracted attention from all who have 

 studied it, and has been discussed by von Martens. Tt is 

 particularly marked among the zoophagous groups. 



2. The fauna is notable for its Fissurellid* and Ac- 

 ma?ida?, its trochids of the genus Tegula, its numerous and 

 peculiar chitons, its numerous cancellarias, the develop- 

 ment of Calyptneida?, of species of Arcida* and of Thais, 

 Chione, Semele, Petricola, Mulinia, all represented by 

 numerous species. 



3. The deficiencies in the fauna are as marked as the 

 redundancies. There are notably few pectens or Lucinas, 

 and the Tellinidie are poorly represented. Acteon, the 

 smaller tectibranehs, Conus, the Turritida* especially, the 

 Marginellida\ Fusinus and its allies, Epitonium (Scala) 

 and the Pyramidellida* are all very poorly represented. 

 Calliostoma and Margarita, Haliotis and Pleurotomaria 

 are absent or barely represented. 



The notion that the mournful colors of so many of the 

 species might be correlated with the huge beds of kelp 

 characteristic of these shores, seems to be negatived by 

 the fact that in California similar kelp-beds afford a shel- 

 ter to some of the most brightly colored Trochidae, etc., 

 and that, as I am informed by Mr. Coker, red and green 

 seaweeds are abundant on the rocks below low-water 

 mark, on a large part of the coast of Peru, and presum- 

 ably also of Chile. This and a number of other problems 

 await the investigators of the future. 



Lastly, a survey of the characteristic groups of which 

 the fauna is largelv made up leads to the conclusion that 

 the fauna is chiefly of southern origin. In spite of the 



