452 Rev. Canon Norman's Revision LIX. — Revision of British Mollusca. Bv the Rev. Canon A. M. Norman, M.A., D.C.L., F.L.S., &c. More than twenty years have passed since my old friend Dr. Gwyn Jeffreys's work — ' British Conchology' — was completed. In the decade which preceded tliat time we had. in company dredged extensively round the British Islands, and especially in the sea east, west, and north of Shetland, down to 170 fathoms, which was the greatest depth at which, up to that time, the sea on our coast had been explored. The new species discovered in these expeditions mainly constituted the additions to our fauna for the first time to be found in the work referred to. In 1868 private dredgings began to be greatly surpassed in importance by expeditions undertaken at the expense of our government. The President and Council of the Royal Society were successful in a request made to the Lords of the Admiralty. A scheme for deep-sea dredging was sanctioned, and the surveying-ship ' Lightning ' commis-sioned for the work. In this steamer Drs. Carpenter and Wyville-Thomson explored the sea between Scotland and the Faroe Islands in depths down to 650 fathoms. The results were most encouraging, and in the following year (1869) the ' Porcupine' was despatched for more extended operations to the south and west of Ireland and north of Scot-land. The work of this year was a complete success, and discoveries were made, both physical and biological, of the highest value. Dredgings were carried down to 2435 fathoms. Drs. Carpenter, Jeffreys, and Wyville-Thomson were the scientific men in charge during these cruises. The next important work which threw light upon the British marine fauna w T as that done by H.M.'s hired ship 1 Knight Errant,' under the direction of Dr. John Murray, in the neighbourhood of the " Wyville-Thomson Ridge " in 1880. In 1882 the government ordered the ' Triton,' a composite steamship of 410 tons, to resurvey and more thoroughly explore the remarkable geographical features connected with the sea-bottom on either side of the lt Wyville-Thomson Ridge." Dr. John Murray had again the scientific direction in this expedition. Last year (1889) a short dredging trip in deep water off the south of Ireland by H.M.S. ' Research ' was superintended by Mr. G. C. Bourne, the Director of the Marine Biological
BioStor
