278 



RED SEA FAUNA. 



Chama cristella ? and a Lima distinct from squa- 

 mosa. Only one of these, the wide-spread Cerithium 

 vulgatum, is to be found in the Mediterranean ; the 

 rest are some of those stranger forms, — the spoils of 

 eastern seas, which attract the attention in collec- 

 tions of such objects. 



Had there been a free passage from the Mediter- 

 ranean to the Red Sea at any time near the present 

 the difference in their respective fannas could 

 hardly have been as great as it is ; and whether 

 such communication existed at any former (pliocene) 

 period, must be determined by the amount of agree- 

 ment between the fossil shells of Italy and Greece 

 with those of the Indo-Pacific region. Without 

 entering on the details of this inquiry, it may be 

 stated generally that the relations of the fossil por- 

 tion of the Mediterranean fauna are western and 

 Atlantic ; and further, that the geologist is unable 

 to give the naturalist any support in his specula- 

 tions as to a Suez route for the common forms. 



