Bihliographical Notices. 377 



Lacuna divaricata. The mistake made by Fabricius in 

 supposing tliis was Linn^'s species does not invalidate his claim 

 to the authorship of the specific name, inasmuch as it belongs 

 to a different genus. The specific name has been adopted by 

 Moller, Lov^n, Sars, the Messrs. Adams, Petit, and nearly 

 every other Avriter on North-European shells. 



Natica affinis of Gmelin is unquestionably the N. clausa of 

 Sowerby. It was originally figured and noticed by Olafsen 

 and Povelsen in their ' Reise igiennem Island ' (1772), vol. i. 

 t. X. and vol. ii. pp. 665 and 1016. It was afterwards (1776) 

 described by O. F. Miiller in his Prodromus to the 'Zoologia 

 Danica,' p. 245. no. 2956, citing Olafsen and Povelsen's work, 

 but without a specific name. That name {affinis) was given 

 by Gmelin in his edition of the ' Systema Naturae' (1788), 

 p. 3675, with a reference to Miiller as above and the following 

 habitat, " inOceano septentrionali." Prof. Verrill has mistaken 

 for this species the Nerita australis of Gmelin, which is 

 described as having a silverish mouth or aperture and inha- 

 biting New Zealand. He might have spared his note of 

 admiration. 



In conclusion I acknowledge my obligation to Prof. Verrill 

 for pointing out the mistakes, although so very few, which I 

 made. I conscientiously did my best with the materials at 

 my command, and I am satisfied if I have done something 

 towards correlating the European with the North-American 

 Mollusca. 



BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES. 



Birds of the Humher District. By John Cordeatjx. 

 London : Van Voorst, 1872. 



The pursuit of Natural History has, we rejoice to say, become ex- 

 ceedingly popular of late years ; and perhaps nothing has tended to 

 diffuse this taste more generally than the publication of local Faunas. 

 Not very long ago the immortal chronicler of Selborne, whom every 

 field-naturalist still regards as his patron saint, stood nearly alone 

 in this department ; and his faithful though simple records, limited 

 almost to a single parish, have possessed a charm for succeeding 

 generations, and roused a kindred feeling among out-of-door observers, 

 who naturally take a deeper interest in things they see around them 

 than in those they merely read of. If " the schoolmaster has been 

 abroad," so has the botanist, the geologist, the entomologist, and 

 last, though not least, the ornithologist. So preeminent, indeed, are 

 the attractions of this charming study, that its votaries are probably 



