36 
CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE STUDY OF THE COLUMBELLID: 
Norse 
By 8. Pacz, F°Z:8., etc. 
Read 10th January, 1902. 
Tue present paper is intended to form the introduction to a projected 
series! in which the morphology, taxonomy, and distribution of the 
recent and fossil members of that division of the higher Prosobranchiata 
typitied by Linneeus’ Voluta merecatoria will be discussed. 
As a preliminary to the detailed consideration of the characters 
and inter-relationships of the recognizable types of Columbellide, 
I have thought it advisable to give a reference list to all the specific 
and varietal names which have at various times been associated with 
supposed members of the family, since many of these names have 
failed to find their way into the monographs of the group, and because 
no existing list includes both the recent and the fossil forms. I have 
also indicated, as far as is known to me, the present location of the 
type-specimens * of the various named forms, and the localities whence 
these were originally derived. 
This list, after a few introductory remarks upon species and their 
nomenclature, and a reference list to the various sectional names 
which have been proposed for the Columbellide, occupies the whole 
of the present paper. The next part will consist of notes upon certain 
forms regarding which there is at present considerable confusion, and 
will contain figures of some hitherto unfigured or badly figured types. 
I take advantage of this occasion to thank all those who are 
assisting me in my work. First and foremost among these must be 
named that genial friend of the conchological student, Mr. KE. A. Smith, 
who by allowing me to work through the collections under his care 
When I first commenced the study of the Columbellidee my intention was to 
prepare an exhaustive and fully illustrated monograph of the group, in which 
everything pertaining to the family should be dealt with in the greatest possible 
detail, so that it should be a concrete study in taxonomy. However, the progress 
of my work has been so retarded by ill-health and the pressure of other 
business, and hampered by the extraordinary difficulty which is still experienced 
in obtaining suitable material, that I have now come to the conclusion that it 
will be of most service to malacologists if the results obtained from time to time 
are published, at all events in the first instance, as a series of more or less 
disconnected notes. 
2 Every description of a new form should include a definite statement as to where 
the type-specimen, or the co-types, are to be found; and this reference should 
accompany the diagnosis, since it is very annoying to have to wade through 
pages of text in the hope of finding a chance note as to the location of a type. 
Type-specimens should be easily accessible to the student, preferably in one 
or other of the national museums: in fact, I personally consider that no species 
should be regarded as being properly founded unless the type is deposited in 
one of the national museums. A local museum is a very unsuitable resting-place 
for a type, since, apart from the undesirability of having types scattered about 
over the country, local museums are unfortunately liable to pass through periods 
of neglect, during which specimens disappear or lose their identity. 
