12 THE NAUTILUS. 



of Florida smooths my path, so that I may do with accuracy and 

 speed what I formerly did slowly and painfully." 



Apology is due to Mr. Hedley for this unauthori/ed use of a pri- 

 vate letter, and also to Professor Dall. EDS. 



CORRESPONDENCE. 



EDITORS NAUTILUS : In the remarks of our friend Hemphill, on 

 pp. 139-140 of the April number, some of us are called to order for 

 a phraseology which is not altogether agreeable to him and other 

 workers on the Pacific coast, and may properly be modified in the 

 interest of their feelings. I refer to expressions which refer to the 

 habitual nomenclature of some shell under discussion, in the cabinets 

 of collectors on the Pacific shores, as in error. I suppose I have 

 been one of those whom he criticises; for being familiar with most 

 of the West coast collections, lists and nomenclature, it has often 

 seemed useful to refer to the name in common use on the other side 

 of the continent, when in the course of monographic revision it has 

 been found to be untenable. 



But I should like to assure Mr. Hemphill and all others who have 

 been displeased by such expressions that nothing was farther from my 

 mind than to reflect on the care or desire for accuracy of West Coast 

 workers. I have been of and among them so many years that I feel 

 entitled to claim a place in their ranks, and a large part of the work 

 I have done has been intended to assist them to the extent of my 

 ability. No one is infallible, at least outside of the Vatican. No 

 one can correct the errors of a nomenclature at one fell swoop, so to 

 speak. I have named many thousands of shells for West Coast cor- 

 respondents, and I have named many of them wrong. That is, I have 

 given names which were at the time in current use, but which subse- 

 quent researches have shown to be untenable. If Methuselah was a 

 conchologist, he probably did better toward the end of his career, 

 and the heirs of his original correspondents profited thereby. But 

 alas ! these are degenerate days, and in forty years or so one does not 

 ferret out all anterior mistakes. Therefore if one's gratuitous service 

 does not prove infallible, and one's expressions not invariably happy, 

 let our West coast friends hold fast to the theory of friendly intent, 

 and believe we at the East mean to do our best by them every time. 

 WM. H. BALL. 



