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A COLLATION OF THE MOLLUSCAN PAETS OF THE SYNOPSES 

 OF THE CONTENTS OF THE BEITISH MUSEUxM, 1838-1845. 



]iy Tom Iuedalk. 



Read lOtli January, 1913. 



I HAVE liad occasion in this periodical to point out that some of the 

 generic names commonly cited as "Gray 1840", and a reference 

 given to the " Syiiops. Brit. Mus. ", could not be referred to that 

 date, since apparently the new names there mentioned were nomina 

 niida. My friend Mr. Charles Hedley admitted that he had never seen 

 the book, on account of its rarity. In a recent letter to me Dr.W.H. 

 Dall wrote : " Much trouble would have been saved if we bad only 

 had a copy of Gray's 1840 Synopsis on this side of the water. 

 I never got even a sight of it." Such information indicated tlie 

 necessity of an endeavour to terminate the uncertainty surrounding 

 this work. The best means of publicity seemed to be the reproduction 

 in these Proceedings of the few pages dealing with MoUusca. 



Upon investigation I found that Mr. C. Davies Sherborn had 

 cax-efuUy noted all the new names as twmina nuda, and that these 

 were catalogued and available to workers at the Eritisli Museum 

 (Natural History). This paper, however, is written for the benefit 

 of extra-London workers, for Mr. Sherborn's much-desired second 

 volume will not be ready for publication for some time. 



Under the title " Synopsis of the Contents of the British Museum " 

 booklets were issued, apparently at irregular intervals, between the 

 3'ears 1808 and 1856, running into sixty-three editions. These 

 covered the whole of tlie subjects in the British Museum, and their 

 scope can be estimated by the warning given on the inside of the 

 title-page. This reads : " The public are apprised that this Synopsis is 

 merely intended for the use of persons who take a cursorj' view of tlie 

 Museum." The result of this notice is seen in the fact that of the 

 1840 Synopsis I have only heard of the existence of two copies, one 

 at the old British Museum, and the other at the Natural History 

 branch at South Kensington. 



In the thirty-sixth edition, dated 1838, the matter relating to 

 molluscs reads in this style: " Cases 3 and 4 contain the shells of 

 those Gasteropodous Mollusca that have the branchice similar to the 

 former . . . They generally have a fringe on each side of their body, 

 as the genera Trochus, Monodonta, and Haliotinr No new names 

 are introduced, and the booklet has no interest to the systematist. 



In the thirty-seventh edition, also dated 1838, the subject is more 

 fully dealt with. Thus: " The Gaster<)[)oda are divided into orders 

 according to the form of tlieir respiratory organs. The greater 

 number of those furnished witli shells have comb-like gills placed 

 over the back of the neck. -They are called Cteno-hranchiata . . . 

 Cases 5, 6, 7 contain the family of the Strombidce, which are 

 peculiar for having a sinus formed by the head of the animal, and 

 placed on the side of the canal, as the true Stromhns, Pteroceras, 



