32 U.S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 239 



lection of Recent mollusks, had been placed also on permanent loan 

 with the U.S. National Museum, Washington, D.C., several years 

 earlier. 



In a letter dated January 28, 1959, Dr. Fenton granted permission 

 for these two institutions to divide the collection as they saw fit. 

 Accordingly, whenever a lot from the "Type Collection" in the Cam- 

 bridge museum contained more than one specimen, a paratype was 

 sent to the museum in Washington. All catalog numbers of these 

 paratype lots are included in the present paper. Possibly even 

 more of Gould's types will be found in the main collection; in any 

 event, it should prove to contain types from Gould's contemporaries. 

 At the present time the collection is not available for study. 



Summary of Gould's Types of Mollusca 



Gould early recognized the importance of types. In 1848, in the 

 Proceedings of the Boston Society of Natural History (vol. 3, p. 5) 

 there is the following note: "Dr. Gould made some remarks upon the 

 importance of depositing in public cabinets, whenever they could be 

 procured, the identical specimens from which the species had been 

 described, and also of authentic specimens labelled by describers 

 themselves, and so designating them that the fact should appear." 



In all, Gould described 1088 species of Mollusca, including 23 

 genera and subgenera. There were 433 species described from the 

 United States Exploring Expedition, of which I have been able to 

 locate types of all but 110. From the North Pacific Exploring 

 Expedition, 374 new species were described; of these, 125 have not 

 been found. Some 271 species were described from Massachusetts, 

 California, Liberia, and other places; of this group, 102 have not 

 been located. 



Thus, out of 1088 species described, type material of all but some 

 340 has been found. Of these missing species, 77 were naked mollusks 

 and have long since been lost, if they were preserved at all. It is 

 possible that a few of the remaining 263 species that are missing will 

 still be found. In spite of the lapse of over 100 years, it has been 

 rather surprising, in view of Dr. Gould's philosophy, not to have 

 found the various types better marked. 



Collections Studied for This Work 



The collection of the U.S. National Museum has been carefully 

 studied by the present author for the types of the United States 

 Exploring Expedition and the North Pacific Exploring Expedition, 

 as well as for Jewett, Rich, and miscellaneous types. 



