80 THE NAUTILUS. 
almost every tint of blue; and in form it may be oval, the posterior 
end may be truncated as in Unio elegans, or it may be so drawn out 
as to be scarcely distinguishable when small, from Venus flexuosus. 
Were there no connecting links I could make a half dozen good 
species from the shells in my collection. Some specimens have an 
epidermis almost as rough as its congener C. carolinensis, while in 
others it is almost totally lacking. In all the species I have cited 
there are connecting links which show that these variations are 
merely forms of one and the same thing. 
In view of these facts and numberless others which could be given 
of the extensive variability of species, and measured by such a 
definition as I have given of the word, how ridiculous is the practice 
of naming every possible variation and form, now so much in vogue 
with the new school of conchologists; a practice which, I am sorry 
to say, is not confined to them alone, nor to the present time. M. 
Bourguignat, who may be fairly considered a representative of this 
school, says he knows 162 species of Helix of the group Pomatia, and 
that of these he possesses 151. And he classifies them into two grand 
sections and nineteen series! One feels like using the language of the 
happy father who, when the nurse presented him with triplets, the 
results of a single birth, exclaimed in utter astonishment, “ Great 
Scott! did any get away?” Why don’t they name and describe 
every individual shell and be done with it? This would certainly 
be one way out of the dilemma. 
(To be continued.) 
DESCRIPTION OF A NEW SPECIES OF OCINEBRA. 
BY F. C. BAKER. 
‘Ocinebra jenksii Baker. 
Shell fusiform, thick, ash-colored, shouldered on the whorls; whorls 
72, two apical smooth, rounded, white; the second is but little larger 
than the first; the third is provided with a distinct carina about 
midway of the whorl; the rest are strongly shouldered and angular. 
There are on each whorl nine to ten longitudinal ribs, crossed by 
ten very strong, coarse lirze, which cut the surface of the shell into 
coarse reticulations. The spire is high, pointed, and occupies about 
half the length of the entire shell. Aperture oblong-ovate, choco- 
