SIMPSON — CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE MOLLUSCA OF FLORIDA. 45 



CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE MOLLUSCA OF 

 FLORIDA. 



BY CHARLES T. SIMPSON. 

 Read before the Academy, December 31st, i8Sb. 



INTRODUCTORY. 



The following pages are chiefly the result of the collections made 

 during a four years' residence near Braidentown, on the west coast of 

 Florida. No pretensions are made to its being a complete list, as it 

 comprises, for the most part, only such species as were collected by 

 the author, and those received from reliable collectors from within the 

 limits of the State. It was my intention, while residing in Florida, to 

 at some time publish a complete catalogue of all the species of mol- 

 lusca belonging to the State, and, with that intention in view, I had 

 planned an extensive cruise last winter down the west coast, up the 

 Caloosahatchee to Lake Okeechobee, the South-eastern Keys, and up 

 along the east coast of the mainland; but unforeseen circumstances 

 compelled me to leave the State, and completely changed my plans. 

 This fact, the lack of literature on the subject, the terrible confusion 

 that exists in the nomenclature and synonymy of Floridan and West 

 Indian shells, together with the fact that there are but few resident 

 conchologists in the State, and that but little material can be obtained 

 unless by actually collecting it, have led me to abandon the project 

 and to substitute, instead, a catalogue of my own collections, with 

 notes and observations made while actually in the field. 



In the listing of these shells I have been particularly careful as to 

 locality, knowing that our knowledge of geographical distribution de- 

 pends wholly upon the accuracy of collectors in this direction. An 

 excellent memory in this respect, the careful labeling of specimens, 

 and notes taken while collecting, have rendered the statements of 

 locality given tolerably accurate. 



Where shells were found more or less throughout a wide area, I have 

 often marked them " West Coast," meaning that they were found at 

 many points along the west coast of the State; or, "Florida Keys," 

 alluding to species common to the lower chain of Keys, and not to 

 those of the western coast. 



