202 AMERICAN JOURNAL 



sively himself, but he excited others to collect, and he left no 

 stone unturned to obtain from other collections in all countries 

 such specimens as he wanted, or from which, as types, species 

 had been described ; and he also, in the most free and liberal 

 manner, opened the collection to the use of such conchologists 

 and iconographers as would fall into his views as to the des- 

 cribing and naming of species. 



When I first saw the collection, fifteen or sixteen years ago, 

 as may be seen by my report to the Trustees of the British Mu- 

 seum, which is published in some of the Parliamentary Papers 

 relative to the Museum, the collection was without any names or 

 habitats to the. species. The names have been added since Mr. 

 Cuming's recovery, and gummed to the mouth of one of the spe- 

 cimens of each preserved species. These names were not affixed 

 by the original describers and figurers of the species, but by two 

 well-known conchologists ; and as they must be considered to 

 rest on identification by the latter and not by the original de- 

 scribers, this rather detracts from their authenticity as .absolute 

 types of the species described. It is to be regretted that when 

 these names were attached the special habitats of the specimens 

 were not also marked on them. 



I am informed that as soon as any specimens were described 

 Mr. Cuming was in the habit of destroying the habitats sent 

 with them, as he said they could be discovered by looking at the 

 work in which they were described. This is certainly a very in- 

 convenient and roundabout way of arriving at the information 

 required : if the species was procured from two or more locali- 

 ties, one is not able to discover which specimen belonged to each 

 special locality. 



In many of the specimens, especially those that have not yet 

 been determined or named, the habitat, written on a small paper 

 label, is stuffed into the mouth of the shell. 



As yet I have not observed any indication of the depths in the 

 ocean whence the specimens were obtained. Indeed, it was only 

 the specimens which Mr. Cuming or a few other collectors them- 

 selves dredged to which such an addition could be made ; and I 

 suppose that Mr. Cuming would also say that this could be ob- 

 tained from the work in which the species are described. But 

 here, again, the same uncertainty prevails ; which are the speci- 

 mens that were obtained at the depth indicated? Perhaps all 

 those that were referred to when first described have been re- 

 placed by other and better specimens obtained at a very differ- 

 ent depth ; for shells vary in size and color according to the 

 depths at which they may have happened to live. 



