IIeview of Prof. C. B. Adams's 'Catalogue of the Shells 

 OF Panama'*, from the Type Specimens. By Philip P. 

 Carpenter, B.A., Ph.D. 



A resume of this important contribution to our knowledge of local 

 faunas, and a comparison with the British Museum ' Descriptive 

 Catalogue of the Reigen Collectiou of Mazatlan Mollusca,' is given 

 in the 'Report of the British Association' for IS.'jG, pp. 26.1-281. 

 Full series of the old species, and the first specimens of the new, 

 were deposited by Prof. Adams in the jNIuseum of Amherst College, 

 which also contains similar series of the Professor's Caribbean col- 

 lections. The second specimens of new species were sent to Mr. 

 Cuming, and through his kindness were freely used in preparing 

 the Mazatlau Catalogue, thus avoiding the necessity of mSny syno- 

 nyms. An instructive lesson in candour and forbearance may be 

 learnt by comparing together the works of any two naturalists of 

 equal celebrity, or by com})aring either of them with the types. 

 With the best desires for accuracv, and the greatest care, it is hardly 

 possible for an author to describe so that his readers shall see shells 

 as he sees them. If this be true of such full and precise diagnoses 

 as those of Adams and Gould, how much greater must be the diffi- 

 culty to foreigners of recognizing shells from the brief descriptions 

 of Broderip, Lamarck, and the older writers generally. The careful 



* Catalogue of Shells collected at Panama; with Notes on their Synonymy, 

 Station, and Geo!irapliical Distribution • by C. B. Ad-inis, Profe'^sor of Zoolo/y, 

 &c-., in Amherst College, Mass. Reprinted ftom the ' Auiials of Ljcouiu ot Nat, 

 Hist. iN, Y.,' vol. v. New York, 18J2. 



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