THE ANNALS AND MAGAZINE OF NATURAL HISTORY. [FOURTH SERIES.] No. 36. DECEMBER 1870. XLIII.-Report on the Testaceous Mollusca obtained during a Drecdging-Excursion in the Guif of Suez in the months of February and March 1869. By ROBERT M'ANDREW*. IN the course of an excursion in the East, accompanied by my family, in the early months of 1868, I spent a day at Suez, where I was so much struck by the novelty of the species of shells on the shore of the Gulf, so totally different from any I had seen on the coasts of the Mediterranean and Atlantic, that I resolved to return the following year provided with the implements &c. required for investigating the marine fauna, more especially the Mollusca, of the district, which offered so tempting a field for research. Accordingly, in the month of January last year (1869), having forwarded dredges, rope, and other appliances by merchant-steamer, and having been so fortunate as to enlist Mr. Edward Fielding as a companion, and engaged the assistance of M. Susini, an experienced collector of shells, I proceeded by way of Marseilles to Alexandria. The interval between our arrival and that of the apparatus (about a fortnight) was occu-pied in a short visit to Cairo, and in coming to a determina-tion, under the advice of our friends in those parts, as to our course of proceeding, of which we had previously been enabled to form no definite plan. I was lucky in meeting with a dragoman in whom I hadfull confidence, having made his acquaintance the previousyear; and I arranged with him to supply tents, provisions, andail the requirements for encampment in the desert, includinga good cook; and at Suez he brought me into contact withboatmen, his compatriots (Maltese), with whom I made termsfor the cruise. * Communicated by the Author, having been read at the Meeting ofthe British Association held at Liverpool, Sept. 1870. Ann. & iMay. N. Hist. Ser. 4. Vol. vi. 29
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