From the ANNALS AND MAUA/.IXK OK NATURAL HISTORY, 

 Ser. 7, Vol. viii., July 1901. 



Notes on the Recent Literature of Japanese Land-Snails. 

 By Dr. HENRY A. PILSBRY, Special Curator of the Depart- 

 ment of Mollusca, Academy of Natural Sciences of Phila- 

 delphia. 



AFTER a period of twenty years, during which but little was 

 published upon the land-mollusks of Japan, their investigation 

 has been resumed by several students with the greatest vigour. 

 This revival has been due primarily to the work of collecting 

 undertaken by Mr. Y. Hirase, of Kyoto, Japan. With 

 assistants trained in the best methods of collecting all parts 

 of the Island Empire are being searched for mollusks. The 

 direction of this work involves not only an intelligent appre- 

 ciation of the zoological problems awaiting solution and of the 

 value ot such work in advancing the intellectual development 

 of Japan, but large pecuniary outlay as well. And disin- 

 terested devotion to zoological exploration, though happily 

 no longer rare in England and America, is not yet common 

 enough to be passed without a word of appreciation. 



It is my purpose in this article to discuss briefly certain 



