VI On the Comparative Population of the World, 



6. — A. pulcherrima, 



A. testd ovato obiongd, sub-cylindrace&, albd velflav6,,fascii8 castanets omatis ; 



labii niargine fusco . 

 Far. a. aurantia, sutura castaned. 

 Shell ovate oblong, sub-cylindrical, white or yellow, with broad bands of 



chestnut ; margin of the lip, brown. 

 Var. a. golden yellow, suture chestnut. 



This very elegant species is about eight-tenths of an inch 

 long, and is much more slender than any of the preceding. It 

 varies somewhat in form, some specimens being more ventricose 

 than others, and also in the number and colour of its bands. 

 The ground colour is a deep and rich chestnut^ with from one 

 to three bands of orange, yellow, fulvous, or white : the mar- 

 ginal groove to the suture is very close and distinct in all. The 

 golden yellow variety is without bands : in all the colours are 

 remarkably rich and vivid. 



On the Comparative Population of the World, in Ancient and 



Modern Times. 



(Read before the Philosophical and Literary Society of Liverpool.) 



[Communicated by Mr. Merritt,] 



After the masterly essay of Hume on this subject, in which 

 the balance of evidence is so nicely adjusted, and the ultimate 

 decision so carefully and hesitatingly pronounced, it will appear, 

 to most persons, that the inquiry is quite exhausted. Any one 

 who now ventures to express his dissent from the conclusions 

 of so acute a scholar, and so accurate a reasoner, will subject 

 himself to the danger of being heard with feelings of con- 

 temptuous distrust, and will not be expected to prove much, 

 except his own ignorance and presumption. But on a point of 

 this nature, where an approximation to truth is all that can be 

 expected, no authority, however grave, must ever be permitted 

 to arrest inquiry. Hume himself has afforded us a laudable 

 example of what may be called ratiocinative courage, in the 

 question now before us. Some of the highest authorities of 

 modern times not only differ from him on this important point, 

 but differ in so great a degree, as almost to fix a presumption 

 of absurdity on one party or the other. 

 The errors of Mr. Hume are never on the side of careless 



