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HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



appearance of this paper, because it is written in a 

 reasonable manner, and fairly sets forth the views of 

 one class of conchologists. It seems to me, however, 

 that names fulfil much the same function everywhere, 

 whether names of shells, of people, of chemical com- 

 pounds, or what not — they facilitate the transfer of 

 ideas. This is scarcely likely to be disputed. Our 

 very ideas are rather to be compared with names 

 than with descriptions. Let the reader for a moment 

 conceive — a tree — and then stop to think what it was 

 exactly that came before his mind. It was only the 

 image of a tree, at best — something that was not a 

 tree, but stood for a tree. The word " tree," if all its 

 attributes were described in full, would take a book 

 to define, and then there would be some things left 

 undescribed — the whole mystery of life, for instance. 

 So it is with all names, they mean more than we 

 actually think of when we use them ; they are, in fact, 

 the index numbers to the great book of reality. Now 

 this proposal to alter the names of certain varieties 

 into English, means one of two things : it means the 

 establishment of an English nomenclature for the 

 whole lot (like the names of English butterflies and 

 birds), and of necessity a like nomenclature in every 

 language of civilisation (presuming that the scheme were 

 fully carried out) — and I think no reasonable person 

 will argue that that is an advantage ; or else it means 

 an attempt to name by description, that is to say, to 

 leave it to each individual to characterise the peculiar 

 form he may have met with. Now this latter plan 

 sounds well enough ; but consider the diversity of 

 the human mind, consider the diversity of ways in 

 which different people understand (or fail to under- 

 stand) the same description, and, above all, the 

 incapability of so many writers of penning a serviceable 

 description — and it seems simplicity and light indeed 

 to fall back on certain standard descriptions, with 

 often good illustrations or the type specimens to guide 

 us. One might suppose that the word *' albino " 

 was pretty definite and well understood, yet one 

 constantly hears pied or pallid birds spoken of as 

 albinoes, so that the records of so-called "albino" 

 birds are often worthless from uncertainty as to what 

 the author meant. In such a case, as I have urged 

 elsewhere before, a code of names should be set up 

 for use in all such cases, to be properly defined, and 

 used only in their strictest meaning. The common 

 language has grown to suit the common mind, and 

 is too illogical and loose in its application for scientific 

 names. So much for names ; now a word about the 

 rank of certain varieties. I am willing to concede that 

 the word "variety" ought strictly to be limited to 

 certain belter defined forms, and should not, by 

 rights, be applied to such as most of the colour and 

 band varieties of Helix ncnwralis. These latter are, 

 technically speaking, " forms," a grade less distinct 

 than varieties proper, as varieties are than sub-species, 

 and sub-species than species. I have been wont to 

 call both varieties proper and forms under the name 



" variety," because I have never been able to satisfy 

 myself about the line to be drawn between them. 

 The very varieties mentioned in the paper of Mr. 

 Williams afford us excellent examples of this difficulty. 

 I will take them in the order he mentions them, 

 and offer a few remarks in reply to his. I have not 

 seen the description oi Arionbrunneics, Lehm., but it 

 certainly appears to be the same as hi'iiiineus, Roeb., 

 and we should therefore amend matters by simply 

 quoting A. ater var. hrunnca, Lehm. The vars. nigra 

 and atcrrima of the same species are not quite the 

 same thing. Var. nigra, which I have found near 

 Warrington and elsewhere, about fields, is rather 

 brown-black, and is, I think, the Linnean type, so it 

 should be called ater var. at7-a, or ater type. Var, 

 aterriina, on the other hand, is the pitchy black 

 variety found in swamps, which is strikingly different 

 to the eye from the dull blackish forms of drier 

 grounds. Var. pallescens, so far as I know, is referable 

 only to Moquin-Tandon, although Mr. Roebuck has 

 split it into two sub-varieties — the pale-brown, h-unneo- 

 paUescens, and the pale yellow, litteo-paUescens. I 

 have not seen a published description of the latter, 

 although the name has been freely used for several 

 years in MS. ; the former is possibly what I had 

 previously described as fiisco-lutescens. I do not 

 think that Moquin's v. puiiii/a of Li/innca stagnalis is 

 quite the same as Linne's fragilis, and, indeed, it 

 does not certainly appear what ^^ fragilis, L." is. 

 Haldeman went so far as to refer it to L. palustris. 

 Again, respecting Locard's varieties of Bithynia 

 tentaculata, cornea is probably best referred to the 

 type, but fiilva, as I understand it, is a very pretty 

 and distinct variety. 1 have seen it from Yorkshire. 

 To come to the varieties Mr, Williams would cut 

 out : his own var. rava of Amalia gagates would fall 

 with the "unicolorous colour-change" forms, which 

 would be a pity, as to my mind it is a really interesting 

 form, well deserving of a name. In the east of 

 England, and the south-east, it "does not seem to be 

 found ; but it is characteristic of the west, and, I 

 believe, will be found from Lancashire to Cornwall,. 

 wherever gagates occurs. Limna:d peregra var. ovata, 

 on the other hand, seems only to be an old fellow, 

 fat with rest and good living, and yet Mr. Williams 

 would retain him. Show me a certain sort of 

 a pond, and I can almost promise you ovata in it. 

 Indeed, Ilazay says typical peregra can be produced 

 from ovata by transplanting the eggs of the latter 

 to water which contains much carbonic acid. — On 

 p. 164 Mr. Williams has an interesting little paper 

 on shells from the North London districts. It is- 

 fortunate that he has not scrupled to use the " some- 

 what objectionable terms " to record his varieties of 

 Helix nemoralis and // horteitsis, as these are very 

 interesting indeed. Mr. Wallis Kew has been 

 collecting and recording the slugs of North London, 

 and I have been astonished to find how much they 

 differed from those of the south and west. Now Mr. 



