Marine Mollusca of the New Hebrides 
Alan Solem^ 
This paper presents a check list of the marine 
mollusks known from the New Hebrides 
Islands = In recent years there has been a re- 
vival of interest in Indo-Pacific marine shells 
and active research on their systematics and 
distribution is being carried on at several 
centers. Monographic treatments of families 
and genera are urgently needed, since the 
taxonomy of most groups is in chaotic con- 
dition. Until such monographic treatments 
become available, critical faunistic studies 
will be impossible. 
Distribution records from faunal reports 
can be useful to monographers if the au- 
thority for identification is cited (see Solem, 
1954, for use of such data). In a previous 
paper on the Solomon Islands fauna (Solem, 
1953), no authorities were cited for- the iden- 
tifications. This omission seriously impaired 
the usefulness of that study and in the present 
paper is corrected in part. Both studies were 
carried out at the Chicago Natural History 
Museum while I was a graduate student at the 
University of Michigan. Since the summer of 
1952 (when my paper of 1953 was submitted 
for publication) many nomenclatural changes 
have been recorded in the papers of Kuroda 
and Habe (1952), Kira (1955), and Demond 
(1957). These changes are incorporated be- 
low, although most of the identifications 
were completed in 1955. Preparation of the 
manuscript for publication has been delayed 
by a detailed study on the New Hebridean 
land mollusks (Solem, 1959). 
MATERIAL STUDIED 
The collection initiating this project was 
made by Robert E. Kuntz on the southeast 
1 Assistant Curator of Lower Invertebrates, Depart- 
ment of Zoology, Chicago Natural History Museum, 
Chicago, Illinois. Manuscript received September 18 , 
1957. 
coast of Espiritu Santo Island from October 
1943 to January 1945. His 331 lots of marine 
shells represented 160 species and morpho- 
types. All NH and ML numbers refer to 
Kuntz collecting stations. Information about 
each site is found in Solem (1959: pk 2, and 
Appendix I). About one half of the forms had 
not been previously reported from the New 
Hebrides. The Kuntz material is deposited in 
the University of Michigan Museum of Zool- 
ogy with a set of duplicates in the Chicago 
Natural History Museum. 
Some miscellaneous lots of New Hebridean 
marine shells were discovered in various mu- 
seums and the records are incorporated be- 
low. Material from Tangoa Island off Espiritu 
Santo (Museum of Comparative Zoology), 
Futuna Island (American Museum of Natural 
History), Rano Island off northeast Malekula 
(Chicago Natural History Museum), and 
Cape Lisburn, Espiritu Santo (gift of Harold 
Harry to Chicago Natural History Museum) 
was examined. 
PREVIOUS STUDIES 
Surprisingly little has been published on 
the New Hebridean marine fauna. Both 
Bougainville and Cook visited the islands in 
the late 1700’s, but no New Hebridean mol- 
lusks are known to have been brought back 
from their voyages (von Martens, 1872^, 
1872^). On August 24, 1829, George Bennett 
collected a living Nautilus pompilius at Dillon’s 
Bay, Erromanga (Owen, 1832), and about the 
same time the "Astrolabe” scientists found 
62 species of marine shells at Ticopia and 
Vanikoro in the neighboring Santa Cruz Is- 
lands (Quoy and Gaimard, 1832-1835). 
Dohrn (1864), H. Adams (1872), Baird (in 
Brenchley, 1873), Brazier (1894, 1896), Daut- 
zenberg (1900), Fischer (1902), and Willey 
(1902) published brief notes or descriptions. 
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