ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 
21 
Mollusca. 
MoUusca of Canary Islands.* — Prof. C. Clmn gives an account of 
some of the Mollusca collected during a visit to the Canary Islands ; 
as may be supposed he treats mostly of Pteropoda. He gives an account 
of Desmopterus papilio g. et sp. n., Prof. Pelseneer’s critical observations 
on which we have already rej)orted. j Phyllirhoe trematoides sp. n. 
seems to be a well-marked form, of a reddish colour, not so transparent 
as P. hucephala^ and smaller than it or P. atlantica. 
Census of the Molluscan Fauna of Australia.| — Prof. R. Tate points 
out that the marine molluscan fauna of Australia admits of division into 
two sections, one occujiying the tropical shores and consisting largely 
of migrants from the oriental marine province, the other belonging 
to the temjDerate waters and consisting largely of endemic species and 
possessing several restricted genera. The southerly termination of the 
Great Barrier Reef seems to be a definite point of separation on the 
east coast. On the west the tropical fauna prevails as far south as 
Shark Bay, while at Freemantle the Australian species are in the 
ascendency. The Australian province has yielded 1672 species, of 
which 72 per cent, are restricted. Others belong to New Zealand or 
the South Polynesian area, and 13 link temperate Australia with South 
Africa. The Indo-Australian province has yielded 1495 species, of 
which rather less than half are endemic in Australia. The author 
sums up his results in a convenient and easily comprehended table. 
One genus of Cephalopoda, nine of Gastropoda, and six of Conchifera, 
are peculiar to Australia. The terrestrial Mollusca are in their species 
locally distributed, but the genera are nearly all widely dispersed over 
warm and temperate regions. Of a total of 461 species only two are 
extra-Australian. 
y. Gastropoda. 
Some Species of Vaginula.§ — Dr. H. Simroth has a ju'eliminary 
notice of his studies on some species of Vagimda, all of which are new 
and are called F. Leydigi (from Queensland), V. Hedleyi (from Queens- 
land), and F. Hennigi (from Cambodja). In the first of these the most 
anterior lobes of the liver lie in front of the intestine, in the others 
behind. The salivary glands of F. Hedleyi consist of a number of 
separate, flat, whitish saccules, in Leydigi they are compact and brownish. 
The differences in the generative organs are next described. The 
pedal gland of all is a loose tube, which agrees generally with that 
of Testacella and Amalia, but exhibits very great differences in details. 
The differences are much less marked in the case of the heart, kidney, 
and lungs. The last differ considerably from the ordinary respiratory 
organ of the Pulmonata ; the respiratory surface is not provided for 
by vascular trunks which branch more or less finely, but by sinuous 
longitudinal folds, which jiartly break up the pulmonary space into 
chambers, and by other finer folds and coils which provide the necessary 
extensive surface. 
* SB. K. Breuss. Akad. Wiss. Berlin, 1889, pp. 539-17 (1 figs.). 
t See tliis Journal, 1889, }». 731. 
X Trans. Boy. Soc. South Australia, xi. (1889) pp. 70-81. 
§ Zool. Aiizeig., xii. (1889) pp. 551-0, 571-8. 
