PRELIMINARY REPORT ON THE MOLLUSCAN SPECIES COLLECTED BY THE UNITED STATES SCIENTIFIC EXPEDITION TO WEST AFRICA, IN iSSg-'go. BY Robert E. C. Stkarns, Ph. D., Adjunct Curator of the Department of Mollusks. By an act of Congress provision was made to defray the expense of seiidii)}; a scientific expedition to the west coast of Africa for the pur-j)ose of observinjj tlic total eclipse of the sun, occnrrinpj on December 22, 1K80. In acjiordancc; with the recommendations of a board appointed by the Chief of the Bureau of Navij^ation to devise plans, etc., the de-tails of the exi)edition were arranged. Through the (courtesy of Prof. David J*. Todd, of Andierst College, .Massachusetts, in charge of the expedition, airaiigemeuts were made whereby Mr. W. Harvey Brown and Mr. Arthur II. Biown, of the U. S. National Museum, were ap-pointed acting and assistant naturalists, to accomi)auy the expedition in the interest of the Museum, for tlui purpose of making collections of natural history obJe(;ts, especially fishes and mammals. The expedition sailed from New York on October 16, 1889, on the United States steamer Petifiacola. I am indebted to Prof. Todd for the following data as to the points touched at by the expedition, and the dates of arrival and departure: Localities. Horta, Fayal, Azores Porto rxrande, St. Vincent, Cape Verde F'rco Town, Siorni Leono Elinina Gold Coast St. Paul de Loando, Angola Arrived. ! Departed. Nov. 2,1889 Nov. 3,1889 Nov. 10, 1889 Nov. 12, 1889 Nov. 18, 1889 Nov. 20, 1889 Nov. 26, 1889 Nov. 28, 1889 Dec. 6, 1889 Jan. b, 1890 Here the naturalists were in the interior for nearly a month. After leaving the latter place on the 6th of January, the next point reached was Cape Town, and the arrivals and departures were as follows : Localities. Arrived. Cape Town, Soutli Africa Jan. 17,1890 St. Helena, South Atlantic ' Feb. 20. 1890 Ascension, South Atlantic Mar. 10, 1890 BridKctown, ]5ail>ado.s Apr. 28, 1890 llernnida May 18, 1890 Departed. Feb. 6, 1890 Mar. 10,1890 Apr. 8,1800 May 10, 1890 May 19, 1890 Proceedings National Museum, Vol. XVI — No. 940. 317
BioStor
