164 REPORT — 1856. 



been added to papers from the former place; e.g. in Cyprcea arabicula, 

 (Bristol Mus.) and Planaxis iiigritella, both of which belong to the Gulf 

 fauna. In Mr. Reeve's account of Hinnites gigatiteus, Gray, the shell is 

 quoted from " California and the Straits of Juan Fernmidez," pi. 1. sp. 2. 



12. The errors of one collection, or of the author, are not confined to 

 books, but are continually repeated in public and private collections. It is 

 important, therefore, when shells are named from the monographs, that the 

 copied locality should be distinguished, say by marks of quotation. When 

 the locality of the actual specimen is known on authority, this may be under- 

 lined ; and, where practicable, the authority should always be added. 



13. Errors of nomenclature. — But supposing that the original materials 

 have been collected with perfect accuracy (and for the reasons above stated, 

 those collections are the most reliable which have been made by competent 

 observers on single spots or unmixed districts), a vast variety of errors will 

 probably arise before their nomenclature is suitably established. 



First, the works in which shells are described are inaccessible to ordinary 

 students. This arises in part from their being so expensive, that even pub- 

 lic museums are often unable to procure them ; and in part from species 

 being described in local journals or loose tracts, which either do not find 

 their way at all into general scientific literature, or do so with such tardiness 

 that their effect is simply to introduce the confusion of synonymy, and, by 

 appealing to an earlier date, to upset the labours of those who would most 

 thankfully have been spared the responsibility of description. This almost 

 limits the satisfactory production of original works to those who have frequent 

 access to the capital. 



14. Or, supposing the books obtained, the materials are found in so ill- 

 assorted a state, that the student's time is frittered away in finding out where 

 to look. It is customary with some writers to describe new species from any 

 genera or any localities, without the least regard to order. Thus every stu- 

 dent at work on the shells of any district is obliged to wade through the 

 "centuries" of new shells described by Philippi in the ' Zeit. f. Mai.,' for 

 fear of overlooking an already published species. Or even when the genera 

 are monographed, the species are generally arranged either by accident or to- 

 suit the supposed elegance of the plate ; instead of either grouping them 

 zoologically, so as to exhibit allied species side by side, or else geographi- 

 cally so as to bring the species from each district together. For want of 

 some such help, whole hours, which might have been spent in advancing 

 science, may be wasted in hunting for a single Cotius, a Voluta, a Helix, or 

 a Mitra. As a help to the determination of species, the more minute divi- 

 sion of large genera is by no means to be opposed ; the Lamarckian genera 

 being to our present knowledge of species and animals what the Linnaean 

 groups were in the times of Lamarck. It is greatlj' to be regretted that 

 many of the divisions proposed of late years have been named in utter 

 defiance of the principles of nomenclature which the British Association 

 recommend, and which are generally received by the naturalists of this and^ 

 other countries. 



15. But supposing the materials found, it then appears that most of them' 

 are in so unsatisfactory a state that allied species cannot be discriminated.- 

 Some writers recomnund short descriptions to save time ; but much more 

 lime is lost in the end by the errors to which they give rise. If any one- 

 will study the synonymy of the CalyjitrceidcB in the British Museum Mazatlan 

 Catalogue, they will i)e able to form some idea, though a very partial one^ 

 of the labour that has been thus entailed. The consequence is that the 

 same name is often quoted by different writers for very different shells. 



