THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 75 



NOTES ON PERRY'S " CONCHOLOGY." 

 By J. H. Gatltff. 

 {Read hefore the Field Naturalists^ Club of Victoria, Wth Aug., 1902.) 

 Perry's " Concliology " is a folio volume, with a short preface, 

 published in London in 1811, and contains 51 coloured plates, 

 comprising 338 figures. Opposite each plate is letterpress, with 

 brief description of the shell, followed at the bottom of the page 

 by remarks ; the pages are not numbered, and the figures are, in 

 most instances, enlarged. 



Having recently obtained a copy of this work from London, as 

 some of our shells are there named, figured, and described, and 

 such descriptions and names have since been generally ignored, I 

 will set forth some of the facts worthy of adequate recognition. 



Taking what may be, perhaps, considered tlie best known 

 genus, Cypr^ea, Perry is the first to figure and name one of the 

 rarest, and, I think, the most beautiful shell in the genus. I refer 

 to Cyprcua valentia ; it is about the size of what is commonly 

 known as the Tiger Cowry, and was subsequently named Gyprcea 

 'princefs by Gray in 1824. Cosmo Melvill, in his " Survey of the 

 Genus Cypraea," published in 1888, says there are only six 

 specimens of this rare species known, one of which is in the fine 

 collection of Dr. J. C. Cox, of Sydney, who afforded me ihe 

 pleasure of examining it. Melvill, in his work, states in a foot- 

 note : — "Mr. George Perry, in 181 1, published a large folio 

 volume, in which many shells were delineated and described for 

 the first time. Unfortunately he does not appear to have taken 

 the trouble to consult previous authors, hence his writings abound 

 with duplicate names, glaring errors, descriptions of young shells 

 as separate species, and the like. He has fallen under the lash 

 of subsequent writers, especially Messrs. Sowerby and Reeve, 

 wh> ignore all his de.scriptions, but in justice to him and to the 

 law of priority, where his species can be deciphered, many of the 

 paintings being very fanciful, it is only right to attach his names 

 — C. princeps, Gray, nebulosa, Kien., iurdus, Lamarck, and 

 melanostoma, Leathes, thus become valentia, surinamensis, ovata, 

 and camelopardalis (all of Perry)." I am doubtful as to whether 

 C. surinamensis = G . nebulosa, as the latter has many more teeth 

 than are depicted in Perry's figure. Try on and Melvill both fall 

 into error in stating C. misella, Perry = G. ziczac, L., and G. 

 gemmosa. Perry = C. nucleus, L., whereas the reverse is the fact j 

 G. misella = G. nucleus, and G. gemmosa = C. ziczac. 



Although Messrs. Sowerby and Reeve seem to have ignored 

 Mr. Perry's work when they followed on a generation or more 

 later, it would have been more advisable if they had given credit 

 for those portions of it in which he for the first time figures and 

 very briefly describes certain shells, and when such work becomes 

 known to later workers it must have due value given to it. When 



