LORIPES. 237 



and returned by the latter with a note in pencil, " not 

 C. discors." The specimen and memorandum are close 

 beside me while I am writing. I mention this because 

 there seems to have been some confusion as to what 

 species Montagu intended by his Cardium discors. 

 Nearly the whole of his priceless collection of British 

 shells, which he presented to the National Museum, has 

 unluckily been lost to science ; and even some of the 

 few specimens that are still preserved were many years 

 ago removed from the original tablets, no care having 

 apparently been taken in the course of rearrangement to 

 retain the names affixed by the donor to his types. No 

 similar neglect, however, has happened of late years; 

 and all that can now be desired by the public to ensure 

 proper care being taken of our unrivalled store of scien- 

 tific wealth, and its being made available for the instruc- 

 tion and amusement of the people, are more space and 

 a larger staff. 



Dr. Pulteney, Mr. Bryer, and Dr. Maton are reported 

 to have found the Venus tigerina of Linne (a species of 

 Loripes) on several parts of the Dorset coast. There 

 is no likelihood, much less satisfactory evidence, that 

 it is indigenous. It inhabits tropical seas. 



Another species, the Venus orbiculata of Montagu, 

 said to have been found by Laskey at Dunbar, is also 

 spurious. It is the Lucina squamosa of Lamarck, and 

 West Indian. 



I was assured by Dr. Lukis that the Tellina carnaria 

 of Linne had been taken alive at Guernsey ; and I have 

 noticed it on the Continent in collections of Mediter- 

 ranean shells. Most writers on British and European 

 conchology have given it a place in their lists ; and Mid- 

 dendorff asserts that it is a native of the Caspian Sea. 

 But although I may be over-sceptical, I must hesitate 



