174 AMERICAN JOURNAL 



more correct and more elegant, let him use it by all means, and 

 however his readers may be shocked upon reading, for instance, 

 Sue. haydeni, W. G. B., they will not hesitate to concede his 

 right to print it so if he pleases. But I submit that an author 

 has no more right to alter the fashion of my specific name to 

 suit his own taste than he has to dictate to me the style or 

 fashion of coat that I shall wear. There is no "law" or "rule" 

 on this subject to sanction Mr. Binney's proceeding. Such a 

 "rule" was promulgated some years since, but found so few ad- 

 herents that it has always been an exception; and the last Com- 

 mittee of the British Association very wisely and graciously 

 granted to authors the privilege of doing as they please in the 

 matter — for which we ought to be grateful. I now give warning 

 to Mr. Binney, as well as all others, that I will not recognize 

 any specific names thus altered, and I emphatically deny that I 

 ever described such a species as the one I have quoted from Mr. 

 Binney for illustration. That species can only be quoted as 

 Sue. greerii, W. G. Binney. 



It is unnecessary to criticise at length the genera, species and 

 synonymy of Mr. Binney's work, because my views are fully 

 expressed in my " Monograph of the Terrestrial Mollusca of the 

 United States," published in the American Journal of Con- 

 chology, and also separately. 



Mr. Binney is in error in quoting Helix Cronhheitei as a 

 synonym of sfriatella, "from the description alone." Such a 

 course is dangerous at all times, and doubly so when the species 

 are so minute. The former is vej'y different. 



The figures of Helix reticulata and H. Bridgesii, intended by 

 the author to prove that those two species are identical, will 

 scarcely convince any one that such is the fact. 



The shell figured by Mr. Binney as Helix Oarpenteri, New- 

 comb, appears to be a fair representation of that species, but it 

 is not specifically the same as my Helix Remondi. Dr. New- 

 comb admits the two to be distinct. The shells collected by 

 Prof. Gabb, in Lower California, are H. Remondi, and not 

 Carpenteri. 



To the description of Bulimulus pilida should have been 

 added that the periphery is sometimes encircled by a brown 

 band. 



A very valuable feature in Mr. Binney's work is the large 

 number of figures of jaws and lingual dentition, those of nearly 

 all the species being original to this work. The study of den- 

 tition has at length so far advanced as to cause many, even of 

 those who at first supposed it would furnish us with an infallible 

 classification, to waver in their faith. I never had much faith in 



