5 



confusion with wracks and exuviae, on the beaches where they are found, but reliable examples of the 

 living marine molluscan fauna of the Island. 



u It is of course impossible to offer any safe generalizations, from such limited and imperfect material 

 in connexion with the deep problems of origin, distribution, etc., but it may be useful to note, that the 

 species are the sameas occur at the Morant Cays, the Pedro Cays, and the shores of Jamaica, indica- 

 ting a close principal alliance between the Grand Cayman and these places, — with, here and there, a 

 species pointing to a wider sphere of derivation from the extreme eastern and s mthern limits of the 

 Caribb3an Province. Indeed, though but a small portion of the beach of Grand Cayman must necessa- 

 rily have been explored in the collection which we are now examining, enough wan got together, to 

 show, what might have been predicated of the character of the marine fauna of the island, from its 

 position within the province, and the currents which flow along and about it. 



" Only one terrestrial Mollusk was obtained-- namely, Pupa (Strophia) Martiniana Kiister. It 

 occurred in large numbers. The specimens collected are very fresh and well preserved, and one or two 

 were alive when the parcel reached our hands. There can be no doubt, therefore, that the species is 

 an inhabitant of the island. The species was first described, more than half a century ago, by Kiister, 

 but its habitat remained unknown, until a comparatively recent period, when Governor Rawson found 

 specimens in oneof the Bahamas, which were identified by Mr. Thomas Bland of New York. We now find 

 it in Grand Cayman also. The sub-genus Strophia occurs in nearly all the West India Islands, excopt 

 Jamaica or its outlying Cays. Its greatest development is in Cuba and the Bahamas. It is also found 

 in Florida. Strophia Ifartiniana, however has not been discovered anywhere^ but in a solitary island of 

 the Bahamas group, and in the Grand Cayman. It seems difficult to account for the presence of this 

 land-shell, in two such distant places, divided by what, to that class of creatures, must be formidable 

 physical barriers, unless we appeal to the theory of separate creations, or plurality of origin, fore- 

 shadowed by Professor Agassiz, and advocated by Professor C. B. Adams, and many other eminent 

 naturalists ! 



"From another source, I formerly received several very fresh specimens (though without animal 

 or operculum) of Helicina, apparently an undescribed species ; oue specimen, dead but still fresh of 

 Tudora maritima C. B. Adams ; and also several much worn and bleached specimens of the group of 

 Helices, to which Helex chittyana belongs, all collected inland, at the Grand Cayman. Tudora 

 maritima is a Jamaica species inhabiting a rather limited area on the northside of the island, about mid- 

 way; and Helex chitUjana, inhabits the south-western Parish of Westmoreland. 



"This collection, therefore, made under such very adverse circumstances, and imperfect as it is, must 

 be accounted as a valuable example of the rich harvest which awaits future collectors at the Grand Cay- 

 man, and of the benefits to science which well directed an 1 searching explorations of the molluscan 

 fauna, marine as well as terrestrial are certain to aff «rd to science. Tne minut j marine shells aloue, 

 must present a vast and most productive field, in which much may be done." 



(Signed) Henry Vendryes. 



17. In conclusion I desire to express my sincere thanks to Capt. Mather Byles, R.N., and the other 

 Officers of M.M.S. 'Tourmaline' for their courtesy and assistance in every possible way. 



I have &c, 



W. Fawcett, 

 Director of Public Gardens and Plantations, Jamaica. 



