188 



Dr. J. Gwyn JeflPreys on the 



[June 15j 



a curious aucl iuterestiug question as to whether the Greenlandic 

 fauna is European or American. According to the learned Presi- 

 dent of the E-oyal Society, the flora of Greenland is European (see 

 page 198 of ' The Natural History, Geology, and Physics of the 

 Arctic Regions, 1875'). My examination of the MoUusca in the North 

 Atlantic, from Norway and Spitzbergen to the United States, as 

 well as in DaA^is Strait, induces me to extend Dr. Hooker's opinion 

 to the marine Invertebrate fauna ; and Dr. M'Intosh concurs with me 

 in this as to the Annelida. Another of my colleagues, the Eev. A. 

 M. Norman, believes, on the other hand, that the fauna of Davis Strait 

 is American and not European, because out of 30 species of Echi- 

 nodermata procured during the cruise of the ' Valorous,' 27 are 

 American and 21 only are European, and out of 15 stalk- eyed Crustacea 

 13 are American and 11 only are European. In the other classes of 

 the Crustacea, as well as in all the remaining orders of Invertebrata 

 examined by him, the percentage is largely in favour of the fauna 

 being European. The Mollusca on the eastern coasts of the United 

 States haA^e been most assiduously and carefully worked out by a host of 

 able conchologists during more than half a centnry, and especially of late 

 years by Professors Stimpson and Yerrill and Mr. Whiteaves ; so that I 

 do not imagine that many more species remain to be gleaned on those 

 coasts. Now the accompanying lists which I have prepared show that 

 there are 116 North- American species which have not occurred on the 

 coasts of Greenland nor in the European seas ; that 52 other species 

 are Greenlandic and European, not American ; that 39 others are Ameri- 

 can and European, not Greenlandic ; that only 3 others are American 

 and Greenlandic, not European ; and that 5 others are exclusively Green- 

 landic, aud not American nor European. The total number of species 

 from the north-eastern coasts of America is about 400. The result there- 

 fore shows very decidedly that the Mollusca of Greenland are more 

 European than American, and implies that the course of migration has 

 been in a ^^ esterly and not easterly direction. 



Besides the examination of the shells of Mollusca I had an opportu- 

 nity of examining and describing the "animals" or soft parts of 58 

 species, including such rare and peculiar forms as Atretia gnomon, Bis- 

 cina Atlantica, Menestlio (not Monoptygmci) alhula, and Pilidium radia- 

 tum. I may here mention that I watched for a long time and on different 

 occasions living specimens of EJiynclioneTla psittacea, with their valves 

 opening and opened ; but I could never detect any cilia (much less the 

 arms) protruding. Buccinum Grosnlandimm takes in Davis Strait the 

 place of our common B. undatum ; its odontophore is very different, aud, 

 according to Mr. Jabez Hogg, the formula of B. Groenlandicum, var. 

 sericata, is 3.4.3, that of B. undatum being 4.7.4. 



I will add diagnoses of three new genera, Atretia, Glomus, and /Se- 

 guenzia. The new species will be described elsewhere. 



