108 THE NAUTILUS. 



ant hours in his " shell room " inspecting his large collections and 

 enjoying his generous hospitality. 



Mr. Vendryes was then — ten years ago — an old man carrying 

 somewhat unsteadily the weight of seventy-five years, but he radi- 

 ated about him the indefinable charm of the gentleman of the old 

 school. He talked freely of days in the field with C. B. Adams, 

 Chitty and Gloyne, those forefathers of Jamaican conchology, and 

 the spirit of their work and methods remained with him, for he 

 evolved with difficulty from that conchological era when every 

 roundish land shell was a Helix, and every marine shell with a long 

 canal stood firmly on the name of Fusus. 



The large collections which he brought together were almost 

 wholly made up of Jamaican and Haitan forms both marine and 

 land. They were large and of undoubted scientific value, although 

 their beauty was marred by the presence of too many dead and worn 

 specimens of the commoner species which he seemingly lacked the 

 courage to throw away. His shells were mounted upon glass slides 

 the specimens fixed by cement and the names and localities painted 

 upon the glass in white. What appeared to be a most unsatisfactory 

 cabinet method he assured me was made necessary in that tropical 

 climate by the swarms of insect pests which would relish paper trays 

 and labels. 



Owing to the lack of modern titles in his library Mr. Vendryes 

 was much handicapped in his literary labors. He acknowledged the 

 necessity of anatomical work and fully approved of the more modern 

 methods of biological research, but before such a task as applied by 

 himself to his collections he sank back exhausted. 



Notwithstanding such discouragements Mr. Vendryes published 

 an excellent list of Jamaica shells which is to-day the best we have, 

 and he also had in preparation the great undertaking of a monograph 

 of the most exhaustive kind, of the Jamaican fauna. He gave me a 

 section of this MS of literally hundreds of pages of closely written 

 (in his own hand) observations, critical notes, descriptions, synon- 

 omy, etc., and asked me to find a publisher for it in the United 

 States. The preparation of this unpublished monograph involving 

 as it must have done an enormous amount of physical as well as 

 mental effort, was, after all, a labor of love, and from the way he 

 handled the MS it was apparent how he loved the monument he was 

 with such infinite pains building for himself. 



