THE NAUTILUS. 119 



liaps the only exclusively Polynesian element in the snail fauna of 

 the Benin Islands. Tornatellina also is doubtless a group of Poly- 

 nesian origin, though in the ages of its existence it has spread to the 

 borders of the Pacific, from New Zealand to the Japanese islands. 



Carychium pessimum var. borealis n. var. 



Differs from C pessimum in being smaller and less conic, more of 

 an oblong shape. Harutori, Hokkaido. Types no. 85772 A. N. S. P., 

 from no. 1144 of Mr. Hirase's collection. 



LE PERE LAMBERT, S. M. 



BY CHARLES HEDLEY. 



Half a century ago, a little band of Marist missionaries landed in 

 New Caledonia to convert to their faith the cannibal savages of that 

 island. For year^, lance or casse-tete daily threatened them with 

 cruel death. They knew no society but the disgusting companionship 

 of brutal savages. From the danger, hardships and squalor of their 

 life, tiiese cultured gentlemen turned for relaxation to the pleasant 

 paths of science. To them we owe most of our knowledge of the 

 fauna, flora, geology and ethnology of New Caledonia. One by one, 

 Montrouzier, Thomassin, Rougeyron — tiiis noble company of hero, 

 pauper, saint and savant — have gone to their rest. The last patri- 

 arch. Father Pierre Lambert, died in Noumea, on November 3, 

 1903, aged 82 years. 



He wrote a few short papers in the Journal de Conchyliologie, but 

 he will be chiefly remembered as a collector. One of the finest of 

 the cones bears his name, as does one of the largest Placostylns. 

 Souverbie dedicated to him species oi Pecten, Melanopsis, Trochus, 

 Euchelus, Xenophora, Alitra, Cancellaria, Pleurotoma, Rissoina and 

 Eulima, also the genus Lamhertia. 



Pere Lambert published a memoir on Ethnology — Moeurs et 

 Superstitions des Neo-Caledoniens, Noumea, 1900, pp. vi, 360, with 

 60 illustrations. An important but little known book. 



