XXX SYNOPSIS OP THE FAMILY OF UXIONID^E. 



the genera Ainblema and Ellipsaria "are good for nothing," that we can neither make 

 use of these names nor of his Obliquaria: and further, "there are several other genera 

 of Mr. Rafinesque's, indeed, that I know not how to dispose of." ! If Prof. A. finds it 

 so difficult to follow Mr. Rafinesque's tracks, how can he blame the early American 

 naturalists, who had so much less light than himself? 1 The prejudice expressed 

 ahove against "American Naturalists" is not warranted, and the whole career of the 

 unfortunate Mr. Rafinesque in this country was not such as to excite the sympathy 

 and the universal good feeling which existed among our early naturalists. When I 

 commenced the study of our Fresh Water Shells I found that my predecessors, Messrs. 

 Say and Barnes, did not credit him with a single species; they could not be satisfied 

 of the identity of one. Other naturalists Griffith, Hyde, Peale, Green, and Stew- 

 art thought three or four could be relied on, and these I adopted. I believe I was 

 the first writer to allow him one. I studied his works faithfully, without prejudice, 

 and certainly without profit, losing much time ineffectually. 



In 1836 the Ohio naturalists, Dr. Hildreth, Dr. Kirtland, Dr. "Ward, Judge 

 Tappan, Mr. Buchanan and Mr. Clark, after much consultation, made out a list for 

 western naturalists to be finally adopted. They made out 119 species, of which they 

 gave Mr. Rafinesque one, and that with doubt. 



Subsequently, when jealousies arose, Mr. Say and Mr. Conrad in 1834 published 

 synoptical tables with the specimens of the North American Unionidce before them, 

 which it was said Mr. Rafinesque had labelled, but they could not with this light 

 give any certainty to Mr. R.'s species, as these tables differ so much as to types and 

 synonyms as to neutralize what their authorities might otherwise have been. The 

 animus of Mr. Say's synopsis may be understood in the fact that in it he did not 

 give me a single species! while Mr. Conrad gave me twenty, and those evidently 

 with reluctance. 



The first entry of Mr. Conrad's Synopsis is U. abruptus, Say=cyclips, Raf., and 

 calendis, Raf. Mr. Say's Synopsis does not claim this species, nor does he enter Mr. 

 Rafinesque's two names at all. Mr. Conrad gives ater, Lea=lugubris, Say. Mr. Say 

 reverses this, and makes my ater the synonym. Mr. Conrad gives cyphius, Raf.= 

 cicatricosus, Say. "While Mr. Say claims for himself cicatricosus as a type, &c. &c. 



1 Prof. Leicly has been more fortunate in another line of investigation, as he has shown in "Extinct 

 Mammalia of North America," p. 376 ; that he found, in the examination of Mr. Rafinesque's fossil 

 mammals that he had made three fossil genera from the bones of the common recent deer, Cervus Vir- 

 ginianus. 



