THE EUROPEAN SEAS. 



175 



with those already cited of Jeffreys and M 'Andrew, 

 the agreement is found to be very close, as might 

 be expected. 



One other numerical comparison will suffice. 

 Ed. Forbes' observations in the Eastern Mediter- 

 ranean are so much fuller than those of the 

 French naturalists on the coasts of Greece that his 

 enumeration of the Testacea is the best that can 

 be taken. He there procured of Gasteropods 254, 

 Brachiopods 8, and Bivalves 242, in all 494 species; 

 the Sicilian seas, under the same classes, giving 475. 



There is a very great amount of agreement be- 

 tween the iEgean and the Sicilian lists of Testacea, 

 more particularly when the comparison is made be- 

 tween the denizens of the higher sea-zones ; and 

 the main difference exists with respect to the inhabi- 

 tants of those deeper regions to which Philippi had 

 no means of access. 



Of all local assemblages that which Ed. Forbes 

 has given for the Eastern Mediterranean is probably 

 by far the most complete. From the uniformity 

 which prevails at depths, both as to conditions and 

 distribution, the deep sea forms of the iEgean may 

 be supposed to occur equally in the Sicilian seas ; 

 in other words, the Eastern Mediterranean must be 

 somewhat poorer than the central and Western 

 portions. 



" The absence of certain species in the iEgean, 

 which are characteristic of the Western Mediterra- 

 nean, is rather to be attributed to sea-composition 



