18 History of Conchology in the United States. 



and we may expect many able papers yet from his hands. We 

 hope that he will find leisure to monograph the Naiades, with 

 the same fulness of description and excellence of illustration, 

 which distinguishes Binney's Terrestrial Mollusks. Such a work 

 would be the crowning glory of a life nobly and usefully spent 

 in the pursuit of science. 



T. A. Conrad, the eminent geologist, in the same year in 

 which Mr. Lea printed his first article on the Naiades, gave to the 

 world through the Journal of the Philadelphia Academy, (1st 

 ser., vol. vi, p. 205 : Aug. 1830,) an article on the Geology of 

 Maryland, containing a list of recent shells of the coast of that 

 State. This was followed, all through the first series of the same 

 Journal by papers on recent and fossil mollusca. The most im- 

 portant of these is one containing "Descriptions of new Marine 

 Shells from Upper California," vol. vii; 1837. This article gives 

 descriptions and figures of eighty species. In the second series of 

 that Journal are several papers, by this author, on marine and 

 fluviatile mollusca. Several of them are beautifully illustrated. 

 A noticeable article is the "Monograph of the genus Argonauta, 

 with descriptions of five new species ;" vol. ii, p. 331 : 1854. 



Mr. Conrad has also contributed to this Journal for a period 

 of over twenty years, and to the Proceedings of the Academy 

 of Natural Sciences. His most important paper in the Proceed- 

 ings is an able " Synopsis of the Family of Naiades of North 

 America." Unfortunately, the author, with a sincere desire to 

 do justice to Eafmesque, has preferred the doubtful identifica- 

 tion of many of his obscure species, to the well characterized 

 descriptions of Lea and others ; thus placing as synonyms spe- 

 cific names which will always stand good among the majority of 

 Conchologists. 



Mr. Conrad also did an unintentional injustice to Mr. Lea, by 

 a want of care in affixing dates of publication to several species. 

 The errors in these dates were however corrected by Mr. Lea, a 

 short time afterwards, in the Proceedings of the Academy for 

 the same year. On the other hand, the "Synopsis" establishes 

 the priority of Mr. Conrad's description of several southern spe- 

 cies of Naiades, over those of Mr. Lea. It is worthy of remark, 

 that Say, Conrad, and Dr. Jay, each of whom retain a number 

 of Eafinesque's names, and who by long study of this family 

 should be considered competent to make a final determination of 

 the validity of his species, have differed greatly in their conclu- 

 sions. Messrs. Say and Conrad have several times changed their 

 opinion of the species intended by Eafinesque's descriptions. 

 Eafinesque deposited in the cabinet of his friend, C. A. Poulson, 

 Esq., of Philadelphia, a collection of Naiades, and named them ; 

 but this was years after the publication of his papers, and mean- 

 while he had evidently forgotten many of the characters of his 



