OCT.— DEC. 1856.] and Auxiliary Royal Asiatic Society. 119 
ing net, on his voyage from England round the Cape in the Ameri- 
can Clipper Blue Jacket. Mr. Traill is known as an accomplished 
Malacologist. During the former period of his service he success- 
fully investigated the Conchology of the Straits, and since his re- 
turn to India he has classified and named the shells in the Govern- 
ment Central Museum. The paper was accompanied by drawings 
of the different species obtained during the voyage and by a chart 
exhibiting the localities at which they were captured. 
After some general observati^ons oh the classification of Pelagian 
Shells and on the means employed for catching them, Mr. Traill 
proceeds to notice the difi'erent specimens, in the order in which 
they were found, giving incidentally such notices of their] peculiar 
habits and forms as occurred to him, and referring to the figures. 
It is to be regretted that he has not added a synoptical descriptive 
list of all the species, naming such as have not been hitherto de- 
scribed. This desideratum, it is hoped, may'still be supplied. 
The specimens more particularly noticed in the paper belong to 
the division of Encephalous Molluscs, and include examples of 
all the great families, the Ptekopods, Gasteropods and Cepha- 
LOPODS, by far the largest number appertaining to the first, which 
are essentially oceanic in their habits. 
Of the Cephalopods a single species only was obtained of a 
diminutive Argonaut apparently new to Science, of which two spe- 
cimens were captured alive. Mr. Traill gives an interesting des- 
cription of its locomotive habits and shows that it diff'ers from the 
common Paper Nautilus. 
Individuals were captured belonging to two genera of Gastro- 
pods, viz. three species of lanthina and two of Atalanta. The 
Author remarks on the singular fact of finding Molluscs belonging 
to a group which is characterized by the possession of a crawling 
foot among the inhabitants of the deep sea, where such an organ 
is useless. But the lanthinas are fitted for this peculiarity of ha- 
bit by the possession of their vascular float, while the foot of the 
Atalanta is divided into two lobes which it uses for purposes of 
progression after the manner of fins. Mr. Traill was enabled to 
make some minute observations on the organs of sight possessed 
Q 
