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STUDIES ON AUSTRALIAN MOLLUSCA. 



Part I. 



By C. Hedley, F.L.S. 



(Plates iii.-iv.) 



As the result of collecting on holidays and examining material 

 in hours not engaged in official duties, a considerable amount of 

 information comes into my possession. In previous communica- 

 tions some of this was embodied; a further contribution is now 

 tendered, and I trust that under this title I may offer more in 

 the future. 



I am constrained to apologise for the disconnected and frag- 

 mentary state of the various items; they are but leaves from the 

 journal of a working naturalist, and their order is that in which 

 chance may present facts. 



The tirst l'equisite of my fellow students and myself is to assure 

 ourselves of the identity of the species we handle; questions of 

 structure and of higher classification, though of great importance, 

 cannot be approached until specific identity is assured. Certain 

 English writers who have dealt with our fauna have presented us 

 with brief Latin descriptions of species unaccompanied by figures. 

 The earlier Australian conchologists unfortunately selected this 

 style for their model. Personally I have failed to identify species 

 from writings of this class; I hear from correspondents the same 

 confession, and observe that species thus unfigured and briefly 

 diagnosed have suffered reduplication of names at the hands of 

 the most distinguished European specialists. 



It has been therefore my first aim to fix by illustration the 

 identity of such unfigured species as I can procure. The occur- 

 rence of species on the coast of N.S. Wales not previously recorded 

 thence will be given prominence. 



