THE NAUTILUS. 95 



The Astartidse number 22 species, of which seven are new. Gyclas 

 Bruguiere 1798 (1st species Venus islandica Linn.) replaces Cyprina 

 Lam. 1818, and is located with Trapezium and Coralliophaga in the 

 family Pleurophoridse. Pandora carotinensis Bush is considered the 

 same as the Miocene P. arenosa Conr. Laternida Bolten 1798 = 

 Anatina Lam. 1809. 



To the readers of THE NAUTILUS the many recent changes in 

 nomenclature may, perhaps, be better understood by the following 

 extract from the author's preface : " In the years which have elapsed 

 since this Memoir was begun, the subject of zoological nomenclature 

 has been much discussed and the general consensus of opinion seems 

 to trend towards the acceptance of names for which no diagnosis was 

 originally supplied, provided the species cited under them are identi- 

 fiable. This change from the British Association rules of 1842 is 

 responsible for much unnecessary overturning of formerly accepted 

 names with no visible benefit to science, but since it appears to ex- 

 press the will of the majority, it seems useless to oppose it, and in 

 Parts 1V-VI it has been complied with, except in the case of the 

 anonymous auctioneer's catalogue, known as the ' Museum Calonni- 

 anum.' This compilation from a manuscript of Hwass, edited by Da 

 Costa, and printed for the auctioneer, George Humphrey, has usually 

 been credited to the latter. I confess, my desire to settle the. nomen 

 clature on a firm basis, though great, has not been equal to the ac- 

 ceptance of these anonymous, undefined, worthless names, which 

 would involve the loss of much that is fundamental in the nomencla- 

 ture of mollusks. I still hope that the common sense of naturalists 

 will find a way if necessary, an arbitrary way to eliminate this 

 publication from authorized sources of nomenclature. The ' Museum 

 Boltenianum' stands on a different footing, and the principal change 

 which its acceptance involves in the earlier part of this work is the 

 substitution of the name Busycon for the more familiar Fulgur." 



The part closes with a " Discussion of the Geology," followed by 

 descriptions of the several stages or horizons and lists of the species 

 recognized in each, also a summary in tabular form, showing the re- 

 lations of the faunas to one another. Some idea of the amount of 

 labor involved in preparing this great work may be derived from a 

 foot-note on page 1552 : " It may be of interest to note that during 

 the progress of this work approximately eight thousand three hun- 

 dred and fifty species have been discussed or compared, and eight 



