REVIEW OF PROF. C. B. ADAMS'S 'CATALOGUE OF THE SHELLS 

 OF PANAMA'*, FROM THE TYPE SPECIMENS. BY PHILIP P. 

 CARPENTER, B.A., PH.D. 



A resume of this important contribution to our knowledge of local 

 faunas, and a comparison with the British Museum ' Descriptive 

 Catalogue of the Reigen Collection of Mazatlan Mollusca,' is given 

 in the 'Report of the British Association' for 1856, pp. 265-281. 

 Full series of the old species, and the first specimens of the new, 

 were deposited by Prof. Adams in the Museum of Amherst College, 

 \\hich also contains similar series of the Professor's Caribbean col- 

 lections. The second specimens of new species were sent to Mr. 

 Cuming, and through his kindness were freely used in preparing 

 the Mazatlan Catalogue, thus avoiding the necessity of many syno- 

 nvms. An instructive lesson in candour and forbearance may be 

 learnt by comparing together the works of any two naturalists of 

 equal celebrity, or by comparing either of them with the types. 

 With the best desires for accuracy, and the greatest care, it is hardly 

 possible for an author to describe so that his readers shall see shells 

 as he sees them. If this be true of such full and precise diagnoses 

 as those of Adams and Gould, how much greater must be the diffi- 

 culty to foreigners of recognizing shells from the brief descriptions 

 of Broderip, Lamarck, and the older writers generally. The careful 



* Catalogue of Shells collected at Panama ; with Notes on their Synonymy, 

 Station, and Geographical Distribution by C. B. Adams, Professor of Zoology, 

 &c., in Amherst College, Mass. Reprinted from the ' Annals of Lyceum of Nat. 

 Hist. N. Y.,' vol. v. New York, 1852. 



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