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for the proper display of all the collections and I am therefore not 

 reflecting on those who are in charge, but I may be permitted to express 

 a hope that the day is not far distant when in a new museum building 

 there will be provided adequate space for the proper exhibition of all our 

 national collections. 



The museums of McGill College and of the Natural History Society 

 of Montreal I am sorry to say I have never seen, but they contain, I 

 know, some valuable collections and together they must possess, I should 

 think, the most complete series of Canadian shells in Canada. 



Smaller collections are contained in the museums of the New 

 Brunswick Natural History Society (at St. John) and the Provincial 

 Government of B.C. at Victoria, the former collection being principally 

 of eastern and the latter of western marine shells. 



Of private collections of shells there are only very few. I am not 

 acquainted with any concholosist possessing a collection of Canadian 

 Atlantic shells in any sense complete. Of Pacific shells I know only Of 

 the collections of Dr. Newcombe and myself, both nearly perfect as to 

 native species. Of land and freshwater shells of Canada it is probable 

 that the collections of Messrs Latchford, Hanham, and myself (all 

 members of the O.N.F.C) are the most complete, and I am sure that I 

 am right in saying that these collections will all of them be freely placed 

 at the service of students wishing to make use of them. 



Now though much has been done towards ascertaining the 

 species of mollusca occurring within our limits, and towards working 

 out their distribution within our territory, and studying their habits and 

 life histories, there is still much to be done before our knowledge of the 

 Conchology of Canada can be considered at all satisfactory. The 

 labourers in the field have been so few that there thousands of square 

 miles of land and hundreds of miles of sea coast still wholly unexplored. 



The deep seas of both the Atlantic and Pacific Coasts have as yet 

 hardly been touched. The Nudibranchs of both the eastern and western 

 seas have been almost wholly neglected. The land and freshwater 

 shells of large tracts of our western and northern provinces are quite 

 unknown. Even in those provinces that have been most thoroughly 

 worked, i.e. Ontario and Quebec there are, 1 am confident, many dis- 



