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THE PRESENT CONDITION OF CANADIAN CONCHOFOGY. 

 By Rev. Geo. W. Taylor, F.R.S.C. 



I am afraid that the title of my paper will hardly be justified by 

 the paper itself, for to write fully and accurately on the present state of 

 Conchological science in our Dominion would require a greater know- 

 ledge of the subject than I can lay claim to, and would involve a much 

 more exhaustive research into the writings of others than it has been 

 possible for me to make ; and, moreover, the time which I understand 

 is allotted for this paper, viz., 15 minutes, is hardly sufficient for a very 

 elaborate treatment of any subject. 



What I shall attempt this evening, therefore, will simply be to give 

 you, as shortly as possible, a summary of what has been published up 

 to the present time with reference to Canadian shells, and then to point 

 out, as best I can, what still remains to be done, and the particular way 

 in which we, as a society of Field-Naturalists, and as individual students, 

 may help to advance this important and interesting science. 



As the Dominion of Canada extends from ocean to ocean, there 

 are at least two distinct marine Faunas to be studied. There are also 

 the very numerous la?id and freshwater rnollusca, some confined to our 

 eastern provinces, some to the western, while others range through the 

 length and breadth of our territories. 



No naturalist, except our fellow member the accomplished Zoolo- 

 gist to the Geological Survey of Canada, (Mr. Whiteaves), seems to 

 have given special study to the subject of Canadian mollusca as a whole, 

 and so for convenience sake I will in this paper divide my remarks into 

 3 parts, and will take 



(1.) The marine mollusca of the Atlantic Coasts. 



(2.) Those of the Pacific Coast. 



(3.) The land and freshwater shells of the Dominion. 



Of necessity I must omit all reference to that very important part 

 of conchology which treats of our fossil shells, and, in order to keep my 

 paper within proper limits as to length, I will reserve bibliographical 

 details for an appendix, in which I will try to enumerate all the most 

 important papers that have appeared bearing upon our subject. 



