BY C. HEDLEY. 501 



of the Challenger Expedition," p. 133, examined the nomencla- 

 ture and decided that it should bear the name of Nerita punctata 

 because Quoy & Gaimard "distinctly say \N. punctata] is a species 

 from New Holland." Those writers made no such statement; 

 their actual words are : " Habite 1' He de France, sur le rivage, 

 vis-a-vis l'habitation de M. Charles Telfair, au Mapou." This 

 locality, so precisely given, leaves us no doubt that whatever else 

 the Australian shell may be called, it cannot be N. punctata. 



Von Martens* chooses for our shell the name of Nerita nigra, 

 Gray, but Gray used this name as of Quoy ife Gaimard, f and 

 neither author introduced it into literature with sufficient 

 formality to render its use acceptable. In any case, as Tryon 

 observes, there is a prior N. nigra of Chemnitz. 



Another solution of the problem is offered by Tryon, J who 

 selects Nerita atrata, of Reeve, arguing that as Chemnitz was 

 not a binomial author his preoccupation of the name Nerita atrata 

 should not count. This argument does not cover all the ground, 

 for the name " Nerita atrata " is used binomially, and with a 

 description, by authors intermediate in time between Reeve and 

 Chemnitz. As for example, by Deshayes in the 2nd edition 

 (1838) of the Animaux sans Vertebres, viii., p. 603. 



The fact that the only road out of the confusion was to bestow 

 a fresh name on our species occurred simultaneously to two 

 writers. In these Proceedings (Vol.ix., 1884, pt. 2, p. 354) Hutton 

 redescribed the species as Nerita saturata. And E. A. Smith in 

 the "Zoological Collections of H.M.S. Alert," p. 69, proposed for 

 it the name Nerita melanotragus. Von Martens, in the Zoological 

 Record for 1884, observed that these two names clashed, but was 

 unable to decide which had priority. The "Alert" Volume is in 

 the preface dated June 20th, 1884, and is reviewed in "Nature" 

 of September 18th. The Part of these Proceedings in question 

 was issued August 19th. At my request Mr. E. R. Sykes kindly 



* Conch. Cab. Nerita, 1888, p. 100. 



t In Dieffe'hbach's Travels in New Zealand, ii., 1842, p. 240. 



J Man. Conch, x., 1888, p. 26. 



