LIST OF MARINE MOLLUSCA. 



By William Healey Dall. 



INTRODUCTORY. 



The present list grew out of the needs of the Division of Quaternary- 

 Paleontology of the United States Geological Survey. In attempting 

 to systematize the collection of quaternary fossils and allied recent forms 

 of the eastern and southern coast of the United States southward from 

 Cape Hatteras, it was found, almost at the outset, that the absence of 

 any general work, list, or discussion of the invertebrate fauna added 

 greatly to the difficulty of identification and classification. 



A card catalogue was begun as a means of ready reference. The 

 utility of this became daily more evident. The researches of collectors 

 on the Florida coast showed that the Antillean fauna lay at our doors. 

 Forms recent there were found fossil in the so-called post-pliocene of 

 South Carolina. It became necessary to include the Antillean and Ca- 

 ribbean fauna, which extends, in a wide sense, to Brazil, on the northern 

 shores of South America. The catalogue has gradually grown into its 

 present form, and will continue to grow ; but, for our own sake, and in 

 the hope of enlisting the attention and facilitating the researches of 

 other students, it was thought best to print it at its present stage. 



The catalogue was prepared, from the original documents enumerated 

 in the accompanying bibliography, by Mr. Richard Ellsworth Call and 

 Miss Agnes Nicholson, under the writer's direction ; to them the credit 

 and responsibility for such fullness and accuracy as it may possess 

 chiefly belong. Although many references were added by the writer 

 in person, it has not been practicable for him to personally verify every 

 citation by comparison with the original. He has, however, read the 

 proofs from the beginning, and in this way has corrected many of the 

 small inaccuracies which are almost inevitable in works of this kind. 

 The resulting list is believed to be fairly accurate. Its scope and mode 

 of construction remain to be stated. 



It claims no completeness beyond what inheres in a complete index to 

 the species belonging to the region stated, and specified to so belong 

 in the w'orks referred to in the bibliography herewith. These comprise, 

 however, all the most important conchological journals from their be- 

 ginning, and the chief catalogues, local lists, faunae, &c., relating to 

 dilierent parts of the region stated. If in any of those journals a spe- 



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