By Bernard Verdcourt John Hanning Speke. During the famous
journey of 1858 which resulted in the first European sighting of
Lake Tanganyika by Sir Richard Francis Burton (1821-1890), his
companion, Capt. J.H. Speke (1827—64), collected a few shells on
its shores. One of the most fascinating problems of East African
conchology was thus made known before almost any of the more
ordinary molluscs of the area had been described. These found
their way back to the British Museum where S.D. Woodward
(1821-1863) remarked on their curious marine appearance. The
incredible arguments which were to fill hundreds of articles and
several books were soon to begin. Was Lake Tanganyika an inland
Jurassic sea cut off and isolated with subsequent freshening of
the water? E.A. Smith, when describing more shells from the lake
in 188i, drew attention to the possibility. The subsequent
discovery of a jelly-fish in the lake by Dr. Böhm seemed to
clinch the matter. Later of course, freshwater jelly—fish were
found in other lakes and r