426 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF [1896. 



too late. The study of the development of specific forras can never 

 be made complete in the Hawaiian Islands, because the sheep and 

 goat have preceded the investigator. There is still a chance to study 

 the problem in the Galapagos Islands, and it should not be lost. 



SUMMARY OF THE LAND SHELL FAUNA OF THE GALAPAGOS 



ISLANDS. 



Genus BULIMULUS Leaoh. 

 Section NAESIO TUS Alters. 



NcBsiotm Albers, Heliceen, p. 162, 1850. Type B. nux. 



Rhaphiellus Pfr., Versuch einer Anordnung der Heliceen nach natiirlichen 

 Gruppen. Malak. Blatter, II, p. 160, 1855. Type B. achatinellinus. Martens 

 in Albers, Ed. ii, p. 238. 1860 (Sect. Bulimini). 



Omphalostyla H. & A. Adams, Gen. Rec. Moll., ii, p. 161, 1855; not of 

 Schleuter, Syst. Verz., p. 7, 1838. 



Nesiotes Martens, in Albers, ed. ii, pp. 220-21, 1860. 



Nesiotus Clessin, in Pfeiffer, Nom. Hel. Viv., p. 254, 1881. 



Ataxus sp. Clessin, op. cit.^ p. 253. 



Pelecostoma Beibisch (exparte) in Isis, Abh. 3, p. 13, 1892. 



The nomenclature of this section has had serious vicissitudes, as 

 indicated by the above synonymy. 



The group was named Ncesiotus by Albers who gave no derivation 

 for it, though the sound of the word naturally inclined the hearer 

 to suppose that it was suggested by v>jfft<«r>j9, islanders, and on this 

 assumption von Martens proceeded to modify the spelling to Nesiotes, 

 which would be a proper latinization of that Greek word. There is 

 no rule of nomenclature which authorizes any one to supply a gratu- 

 itous derivation for a word published without any ; still less because 

 the original does not agree with the later assumption is any one 

 authorized to modify or destroy a name properly proposed in other 

 respects. Consequently von Marten's substitute cannot be accepted.*" 



In describing his Bulimus achatellinus, Forbes says that it "is 

 unlike any known Bulimus, and its characters distinctly indicate 

 affinity with the Achatmellince." Elsewhere he speaks of it " dis- 

 tantly," indicating " affinity with the fauna of the Sandwich Is- 

 lands." This was not an unnatural conclusion when drawn from a 

 few specimens, but, as is elsewhere shown in this paper, rests upon 

 purely superficial characters. Actually the species is American in 

 its relations, and is very closely related to some varieties of B. nux, 

 from which protean species it may even be an ofl^shoot. Conse- 



*" This Beeras to be a suitable occasion to protest against the unauthorized 

 meddling with generic names which has lately been fashionable among writers 

 from whom more sensible things would have been expected. 



