54 Bibliographical Notices* 



Report on the Invertebrata of Massachusetts, comprising the Mollusca, 

 Crustacea, Annelida, and Radiata. Published agreeably to an order 

 of the Legislature, by the Commissioners on the Zoological and 

 Botanical Survey of the State. Cambridge, 1841. 8vo. 

 Washington, if we remember rightly, on abdicating the Presidency 

 of the United States, put into his valedictory address a recommenda- 

 tion of the sciences to the protection and encouragement of the young 

 Republic ; and we look upon the • Report ' before us as one of many 

 proofs which the separate " States" have given of their attention to 

 their father's legacy. And naturalists in particular must be grate- 

 ful to the " Legislatures" that so devote a share of the public purse; 

 for in all new countries — we fear that we may safely add, and in all 

 old ones too — the scientific study of living beings, that is, studied 

 independently of their uses or relations to man, and merely as con- 

 stituent parts of God's creation, his wisdom, and power, can have few 

 followers when and where all are busy idolaters of Mammon and his 

 legion. 



" Appointed, as I suppose myself to have been," says Dr. Gould, 

 " under that section of the Constitution which enjoins it upon the 

 legislature to encourage the arts and sciences, and to promote, among 

 other things, ! a natural history of the country,' I have ventured to 

 make my 'Report' mainly of a scientific character. It was the only 

 way in which my labours could prove of much practical value, in- 

 asmuch as very few of the objects, belonging to the portion of the 

 animal kingdom to which my attention has been given, are of much 

 general interest, or of much importance in an ceconomical point of 

 view. I could not but suppose that an effort to contribute some- 

 thing towards that branch of science, which we have hitherto re- 

 ceived entirely at the hands of other states and other lands, would 

 be desired and approved ; and that Massachusetts, which first set 

 the example in those investigations of territorial natural resources, 

 which have since been undertaken by almost every state in the Union, 

 would not desire to be behind any of the states in this respect. I have, 

 therefore, undertaken to present something more than a mere array 

 of names in the form of a catalogue. 



" As I could not extend my plan fully to all the objects assigned 

 me, I have selected the Shells, on which to bestow my chief at- 

 tention. These I have endeavoured to describe and figure in such a 

 manner that the ' Report' might be used as a school-manual for the 

 study of the conchology of New England. Such a work is greatly 

 in demand, and nothing of the kind is in existence." 



The want here indicated, it gives us unfeigned pleasure to say, has 

 been most ably supplied by Dr. Augustus A. Gould, who has given 

 a correct description of every mollusc found up to the period of his 

 publication on the shores of Massachusetts, accompanied with a judi- 

 cious synonymy, and with critical remarks of much value. The work 

 has peculiar claims to the attention of the British naturalist, for he 

 will find here many shells identical with those of his own island, many 

 that bear a close resemblance to other natives and yet distinct, and 

 several that are the living representatives of shells that with us have 



