THE NAUTILUS. 



Vol. XXXII. OCTOBER, 1918. No. 2 



THE AVICULA CANDEANA OF D'ORBIGNY, FROM BERMUDA. 



BY CHARLES W. JOHNSON*. 



Among the inollusca collected by Mr. Owen Bryant at Ber- 

 muda in the summer of 1903, was a specimen referable to the 

 genus Malleus of authors. At the time I urged Mr. Bryant to 

 describe it and he started to do so. I do not wonder that the 

 monographs in the Conchologia Iconica (Vol. XI) and in the 

 Conchylien Cabinet (VIII, 1) baffled him, and when I showed 

 him d'Orbigny's description of Avicida candeana in La Sagra's 

 Cuba, he " threw up the sponge," and on leaving Boston turned 

 the specimen over to me. 



The specimen was put aside, and the press of museum work 

 has prevented me from recording this interesting shell before. 

 At this time the pleasure of doing so is greatly marred by the 

 possibility that the appropriate and familiar name of Malleus 

 Lamarck 1799, might have to fall before the older name of 

 Pivctado Bolten, 1798. 



My friend Mr. Charles Hedley in his list of the mollusca of 

 New South Wales, ingeniously places Malleus vulgar is under the 

 genus Pinctado and M, albus under Malleus. This is a very 

 nice way of arranging them so as to retain the old genus Malleus', 

 but do they really represent two genera ? What shall we do 

 with all of the smaller, auriculate forms? Although the species 

 seem difficult to separate in the early stages of their growth, 

 the adult shells of the auriculate species are quite readily sepa- 

 rated from the true " hammer oysters," and the simplest plan 

 would be to adopt provisionally a third name to cover these. 



