PREFACE 
OrTteN have I heard my young friends regret the great diffi- 
culty experienced in identifying the things of beauty found on our 
coast; and some time back it occurred to me that the time had ar- 
rived when an attempt should be made to remedy this. New 
Zealand is a maritime country, most of its inhabitants living near 
the sea, and there are few indeed who do not enjoy occasionally 
the pleasure of wandering along the sea-shore, gathering shells, 
seaweed, echini, and the numerous other relics of the deep. This 
pleasant hobby is robbed of a great deal of its interest by a lack 
of knowledge as regards the names, habits, and mode of pre- 
serving the various finds, and especially the finds of shells. When 
properly preserved and carefully classified they are much more 
attractive than otherwise they would be. In almost every home 
shells are seen; some highly prized as ornaments, others as me- 
mentoes of pleasant hours in foreign lands; but seldom are our 
really beautiful shells represented in a collection. 
In this work marine shells alone are dealt with, our 
numerous land and fresh water shells being, with six or seven 
exceptions, small and insignificant. Of land and fresh water shells 
about two hundred varieties, and of marine shells about four hun- 
dred and fifty varieties, have up to the present been discovered 
in New Zealand. For some inscrutable reason, however, the New 
Zealand authorities are continually changing the classical names 
of our shells. The names I have used are taken from the late 
Professor F. W. Hutton’s last list, published in 1904. It is really 
time some attempt was made to stop this foolish proceeding. Most 
of the shells, since I began collecting 20 odd years ago, have had 
their names changed once, many of them twice, and some even 
three times. It is more than probable some of the names will be 
altered while this volume is in the press. These frequent changes 
in the names cause great confusion, and but for the kindly help 
and encouragement given me by Mr. T. F. Cheeseman, F.L.S., of 
Auckland, I should have hesitated to undertake its publication. 
