INTKODUCTLON. 



BY the death of Dr. W. T. Blanford, the late talented Editor of 

 the 'Fauna of British India ' series, the writing of the Introduction 

 to this volume has devolved on me. 



Up to a few days of his death, 23rd June, 1905, Blanford was 

 engaged on this the first volume on the Indian Mollusca, and it 

 was with bitter regret he feared he could scarcely be spared to 

 complete it. It saddens me now to think that, perhaps, had I 

 been able to go up to town oftener in those days and help, the 

 work might have progressed faster, but I could not neglect duties 

 in the country. 



On commencing the work, now some years ago, Blanford asked 

 me if I would assist him in the malacological part while he 

 undertook the conchological. "With regard to the latter, I may 

 safely say there was then no man living who knew the Indian 

 Land-Shells and their distribution better than Dr. Blanford, to 

 which he added an intimate knowledge of the external form of 

 the animal. In a Field Note-book of his I have found many 

 valuable drawings and descriptions made from life and have used 

 some in this work. In going over his manuscript I could not but 

 see what long and laborious work it had entailed with the constant 

 use of the microscope as the fresh descriptions of the shells were 

 written. 



Since 1877 I have been constantly at work on the internal 

 anatomy of the Indian land-shells, having brought home a large 

 collection preserved in spirits. To gain some further knowledge, 

 particularly of the range of genera, I examined all the material 

 I could obtain from Borneo and the Malay Archipelago, the 

 Mascarene Islands, Socotra, and Africa. The results of this have 

 been published from time to time. Many species obtained by 

 Blanford during the last two or three years of his life he placed in 

 iny hands for examination, so that the generic position of a large 

 number of forms is now very fairly arrived at. 



It is a great loss to science that Blanford did not live to put 

 together his full and matured ideas on distribution, phylogeny, &c. 

 He was eminently fitted to do this by his extensive knowledge of 

 the country, his powers of observation, and his studies in other 

 branches of the animal kingdom. I, who really took up the 

 collection and study of land-shells at his instigation and owe 

 much that I have learnt to him, feel far from equal to the 

 task, 



b 



