THE ANNALS 
MAGAZINE OF NATURAL HISTORY. 
[FOURTH SERIES. ] 
No. 10. OCTOBER 1868. 
XXVI.—On the Typical Value of the Lingual Dentition in the 
right Distribution of the Genera of Gasteropoda into Natural 
Groups and Families. By JoHN DENIS Macponatp, M.D., 
F.R.S., Staff Surgeon, R.N. 
[Plate XVI. ] 
THOUGH many of the weak points of pure conchology have 
been brought to light by the study of the lingual dentition of 
the Gasteropoda, there is yet much more to be accomplished, 
embracing not only the acquisition of new facts by further 
research, but the right use of those already in our possession. 
We are, even now, only sufficiently acquainted with the sub- 
ject to know that any system of conchology, however plausibly 
framed, cannot be reliable where this important test has not 
been brought to bear. It is nevertheless true that the import 
of the dental characters has been either misinterpreted or not 
sufficiently taken into account in some of our best works on 
malacology. It is scarcely to be believed, for example, that, 
as at present received, the greater number of the genera of the 
two significant families Muricidee and Buccinide require reci- 
procal change of place, the truth of which position will be 
demonstrated as we proceed with the inquiry. 
Mr. Jabez Hogg, in a paper* lately read before the Micro- 
scopical Society, quotes a passage from Mr. 8. P. Woodward’s 
‘Manual of Mollusca,’ that I had already transcribed for my 
own purpose some eight or nine years ago; but, as that pur- 
pose does not appear to be infringed upon by the tenor of Mr. 
Hogg’s reasoning, I shall still adopt the quotation in question, 
as affording a good idea of the commonly received views of 
classification by the lingual dentition (op. c7t. p. 450) :— 
* “On the Lingual Membrane of Mollusca, and its value in Classifica- 
tion,” by Jabez Hoge, F.L.S. &c., published in the ‘Quarterly Journal of 
Microscopical Science,’ No. 31, July 1868. 
Ann. & Mag. N. Hist. Ser. 4. Vol. ii. 17 
