CARR VOYAGE ROUND TRINIDAD. 365 



not so, over the world, with Cedars, Oaks, Beefwoods, &c, ? 

 Such confusion shows the value of a fixed systematic nomen- 

 clature, but as this can never come into common use, we 

 should endeavor, in common names, to hold to some special 

 and if possible the aboriginal name of a plant, as Mammee 

 instead of Maruniee-apple, Jambolan instead of Java-plum 

 or its absurd Creole alternative of Prune manage, Avocado 

 instead of Avocato-pear, Alligator-pear or Zaboca, and so on 

 through numberless instances. I once asked an old black 

 man what, if any, common name was given to a pretty pink- 

 flowering plant (Stachytarpheta mutabilis) pointing to it 

 "wha' we caal 'im, hea'about ? Queen- Victoria dressin'- 

 gown-bush, da he naim, putty flower !" 



On the beach of l'Anse Caribe a Conchologist would look 

 in vain for a single shell ; yet a friend who stayed there ten 

 days during last month, December, brought back from it not 

 less than 30 species, in various condition, whole, broken, and 

 fragments. We had been talking of shells before he went 

 down, and when there, having little occupation or variety of 

 modes in which to pass the time, his household amused them- 

 selves with seeking shells by scraping aside the stones and 

 fine gravel. Columbella mercatoria, JVassa antillarum, Ce- 

 rithium valgatum, Cerithium versicolor and Purpura auri- 

 culata, were numerous ; Murex pomiformis, Columbella lae- 

 vigata, Capulus intortus, Nerita praecognita^ Siphonaria 

 lineata and the handsome Triton pilearis were pretty fre- 

 quent the remainder were generally single specimens or 

 fragments these were all what a malacologist would call 

 dead shells, indicating nevertheless the existence of as many 

 living species of mollusks in the sea washing that shore. 



On the very narrow beach cleared of the bushes for a land- 



