History of Conchology in the United States. 23 



The descriptions, of this author, are very minutely accurate, 

 dwelling on every slight peculiarity of the shell before him ; 

 hence, a number of his species have proved to be merely well 

 marked varieties, undue importance being attached to all their 

 minor differences. 



The writings of Prof. Adams are, however, very valuable, as 

 they are distinguished by their marked ability, and fill up a gap 

 in the history of American Mollusca ; no other author having 

 described any considerable number of the shells of Jamaica — 

 an island which contains an almost isolated molluscous fauna — 

 very few only of its species being common to the other islands. 



Augustus A. Gould, M.D., of Boston, is one of our most 

 voluminous writers on Conchology, his papers covering almost 

 the entire range of the science. 



His first publication was a translation of the generic descrip- 

 tions by Lamarck, entitled, " Lamarck's Genera of Shells ; with 

 a catalogue of species." (Boston, 1838.) He has since that time 

 had the good fortune to be connected with some of the most 

 elaborate works on the subject, published in America. 



Dr. Gould contributed several short papers to this Journal, in 

 1840 and 1848 ; and he has also a paper in the London Zoolog- 

 ical Proceedings for 1857, " On the Nautilus umbilicatus of Lis- 

 ter." With these exceptions, the whole of his shorter papers 

 have appeared in the Boston Journal and Proceedings. The 

 Journal contains : — ■ 



"A monograph of the species of Pupa found in the United States." 

 " Descriptions of shells from the Gulf of California, and the Pacific 

 Coasts of Mexico and California." 



Also, articles describing shells from Burmah, Cuba, and Africa. 



The contributions of Dr. Gould to the Boston Proceedings 

 number over forty, and embrace descriptions of terrestrial, fiu- 

 viatile and marine species from all parts of the United States, 

 Burmah, Liberia, Sandwich Islands and Brazil ; those of Wilkes' 

 U. S. Exploring Expedition, and the North Pacific Exploring 

 Expedition. Besides these, Dr. Gould's " Kemarks" made before 

 the Boston Society, and published in their Proceedings, embrace 

 a running commentary on recent publications, criticisms of new 

 species, details of the habits and anatomy of the Mollusca, and 

 many other interesting subjects. 



The paper " On the shells collected by Wilkes' U. S. Explor- 

 ing Expedition," contains short descriptions of the hundreds of 

 species which have since been published in complete and beau- 

 tiful style, as a Government Report. 



The plates of this Report have just been issued, their prepara- 

 tion having occupied several years. They are very carefully 

 drawn and splendidly colored. 



