Abstract
JAPAN is not less remarkable for the works of its people than for its natural productions. Its sea-shells are of a mixed character, arctic and tropical. Some species range to the Mediterranean; for Verticordia granúlata of Seguenza, from the Sicilian tertiaries, which I have now discovered living in the Gulf of Egina at a depth of 130 fathoms, was lately dredged by Mr. A. Adams in the seas of Japan, and is described by him as V. multicostata. Another species of Verticordia—or perhaps more correctly Hippagus—the H. acuticostattis of Philippi, a Calabrian and Sicilian fossil (which occurs also in our Coralline Crag, under Sowerby's name of V. cardiiformis), is the V. Deshayesiana of Fischer, and V. Japonica of A. Adams, from China and Japan. The only other known living species of Hippagus (Trigomdina omata, D'Orbigny = H. novemcostatus, Adams and Reeve) is common to the West Indies and China. Unfortunately we know far too little of the former and present course of those great currents which traverse the ocean in every direction, to be able to explain satisfactorily the geographical distribution of the marine fauna. Nevertheless, although physical data are wanting, zoological facts are accumulating; and Dr. Lischke, as well as Mr. Arthur Adams, have rendered great assistance by their investigation of the Japanese mollusca. The present is not a complete treatise on the subject; but it shows great care and critical acumen, and it is beautifully illustrated. The author is Oberburgomeister of the large manufacturing town of Elberfeld, and finds time not only for his onerous public duties, but also for good scientific work; so that in other countries besides our own, writers on natural history are not confined to the class of paid professors.
Japanese Shells.—Japanische Meeres-conchylien.
By Dr. C. E. Lischke. (Cassell: 1869.) Quarto, with 14 coloured plates.
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JEFFREYS, J. Japanese Shells—Japanische Meeres-conchylien . Nature 1, 329 (1870). https://doi.org/10.1038/001329a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/001329a0