Report on the Mollusca and Brachiopoda dredged in deep water, chiefly near the Hawaiian Islands, with illustrations of hitherto unfigured species from Northwest America

SCIENTIFIC EESULTS OF EXPLOEATIONS BY THE U. S. FISH COMMISSION STEAMER ALBATEOSS. [Published by permissiou of Hon. Marshall McDonald, Commissioner of Fisheries.] No. XXXIV.— REPORT ON MOLLUSCA AND BRACHIOPODA DREDGED IN DEEP WATER, CHIEFLY NEAR THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS, WITH ILLUS-TRATIONS OF HITHERTO UNFIGURED SPECIES FROM NORTHWEST AMERICA. By William Healey Dall, Honorary Curator of the Dejyartment of MolluslcB. In the latter part of 1891 tlie Albatross was engaged in making soundings between the coast of California and the Hawaiian Islands, with the intention of obtaining a profile of the sea bottom for use in con-nection with plans for laying a submarine telegraph cable. This work was performed as rapidly as possible, and no delays made for dredging or other work not strictly germane to the purpose of the voyage until on approaching Honolulu the archibenthal plateau about the islands was reached, and here, in between 300 and 400 fathoms, eight hauls of the dredge were made, of which a table follows. Half a dozen small bottles, containing mollusks and brachiopods, were received in 1892, and the following account of their contents leads us to regret that more time could not have been devoted to dredging. The material obtained is not only very interesting, zoologically, but wholly new, not a single species heretofore described, either from the deep sea or from the Hawaiian Archipelago, being found among the dredgings. A new subgenus of Pleurotomidse, the hitherto unknown and very interesting soft parts of a species of Uuciroa, regarded as belonging to the Verticordiidfe, but now necessarily raised to family rank, sev-eral new Brachiopods, etc., are among the material secured, and described in the following pages. To these are added a few new species from the northwest American coast, and a number of species described briefly without figures in 1891 are now suitably illustrated. Table of stations of U. S. Str. Albatross, near the Raivaiian Islands, December S to 6, 1S91. Proceedings of the U. S. National Museum, Vol. XVII. —No. 1032. 675