68 THE PEOCEEDINGS OF THE LINNEAN SOCIETY 



neritoides. Dillwyn gives to the Turbo neritoides quite a different 

 signification from even Linne. He only admits one of the 

 references which is only Gualtieri, fig. F, plate 45. This figure 

 would agree well enough with the Turho ccerulescens of Lamarck, 

 but cannot in any way be referred to the Liunean species." 



I have deemed it necessary to refer at length to this question 

 of synonomy in case any of the older works on the citation of 

 Linne should be consulted. Our L. dieinanensis should on 

 M. Deshayes' authority be considered the same as X. ccerulescens. 

 This also is the same as L. mauritiaina, unifasciata, Africana, and a 

 host of others. If we believe that only one species ranges between 

 the Cape of Good Hope and Australia then the synonomy will be 

 something enormous. 



But does it not seem strange that a shell should fringe our 

 coasts on the Southern Hemisphere and be found quite as common 

 on the north coasts of the Mediterranean, &c., while no sign of 

 its existence can be traced in the intermediate regions. It does 

 seem somewhat unusual and singular, but we have similar facts 

 in Botany. Every one knows for instance the showy purple 

 Loosestrife (Lytliris salicaria), which is such a conspicious object 

 in marshy places in Europe. With its companion Lythris 

 hyssopifolium it is widely distributed in Europe. Well, when 

 R. Brown landed in Tasmania and began to explore where 

 European feet had surely never trodden before, one of the first 

 things he noticed in the marshy places was the purple Loosestrife 

 of Europe. It was not long before he had found L. hyssopifolium, 

 growing with its companion just under its well-known conditions. 

 Such instances might be multiplied, and probably they hold good 

 in the insect world, and in the higher order of animals. It seems 

 as if each country or each province has its particular fauna which 

 is peculiar in its resemblances as well as its differences, and 

 besides all this has a certain amount of features which are the 

 same for every portion of the earth's surface under similar 

 conditions. And moreover it seems to me that the true clue to 

 this fact is one which neither the evolution theory or the " station 

 or dispersion " theory will completely explain. Our Newton of 

 natural science is yet to come, the zoologist of the future, who 



