22 THE NAUTILUS. 



able to it. In Jamaica it will probably remain confined to the 

 higher altitudes. 



Institute of Jamaica, April 13, 1893. 



A REPLY TO PROFESSOR WHEELER. 



I think that quite enough has been said on the subject of the 

 Unio muddle in the columns of the Nautilus, and I do not Avant to 

 revive the subject. But there are one or two suggestive points in 

 Professor Wheeler's note in the May number that I want to call 

 attention to. 



While a Congress of American conchologists might be able to 

 settle certain contested points in nomenclature, if their work did not 

 come into too glaring opposition to certain established laws recog- 

 nized by scientific societies in general, yet I believe it is impossible 

 for any such body to straighten out the muddle of specific limits, or 

 perhaps, in all cases, the relations of one species to another. I 

 believe that an expert, a specialist who has devoted years to the 

 loving study of a family or genus, is better qualified to judge on 

 these points than any body of students, no matter how capable they 

 may be otherwise, but who probably have only a mere smattering of 

 the matter in question. 



C. B. Adams and Dr. Gould ranked easily among the ablest 

 conchologists in the world, but who can doubt that Mr. Lea, or 

 James Lewis were better qualified to judge on the nice distinctions 

 of the Unionidae, or that Dr. Newcomb was more competent to 

 arrange the Achatinellas, or that Dr. Dall has a better knowledge 

 of deej) sea Mollusks than did either of these? Because these men 

 have made life studies of these subjects, while the others were not 

 specially interested in them. 



A specialist who works on a difficult or puzzling group, goes over 

 his work again and again, putting it aside when he tires of it, and 

 taking it up when the mind is rested. He patiently and lovingly 

 labors over the most minute and obscure points that to most students 

 would be of little or no interest, because his heart is in the work and 

 he is thoroughly determined to master the whole subject. As a rule, 

 his collecting is largely done in the direction of his hobby, and he 

 therefore has more material to work on than one slightly inter- 

 ested. He eagerly reads all literature relating to his work, and in 

 time, if his judgment is well balanced, he becomes an authority. 



