Conchological Classification, Variation & Nomenclature. 251 



accurate and strictly precise modern methods of investigation 

 and are not supported by the great leaders of scientific thought, 

 for Prof. Huxley held the conviction that sooner or later we 

 should possibly give up even attempting to define species and 

 be compelled by stress of circumstances to adopt the principle 

 of recording the varieties which cluster round definable types. 

 Darwin and Wallace, our greatest authorities on Evolution, 

 considered varietal differences to be of the greatest importance ; 

 while Prof. E. von Martens, the famous conchologist, was of 

 opinion that it was desirable that every local form well marked 

 zoologically or geographically should have a distinct name ; and 

 I am also quite in accord with the venerable geologist, Rev. 

 Prof. Bonney, who advocates the use of varietal names in 

 preference to those of specific rank for forms of doubtful status, 

 such nomenclature while being expressive of the differences, 

 keeps prominent the relationship of the doubtful forms, and 

 remarks that the tendency to individualism evidenced by the 

 leaning to specific names tends to promote a mental habit very 

 fatal to real scientific progress. 



However, in the light of the unsparing condemnation of 

 varietal nomenclature expressed by Kennard and Woodward, 

 and their bold assertion that there is no scientific utility in 

 applying names even to the culminating points of any line of 

 variation, and that such action is merely wasted energy, we 

 may instructively examine the Lists of British Non-Marine 

 MoUusca prepared and published by those gentlemen for the 

 guidance and help of collectors and other interested persons, 

 which presumably only include names which in the opinion 

 of the authors are worthy of attention and record, for if the 

 strong condemnatory opinions they have so vigorously ex- 

 pressed are consistently and honestly held, we should naturally 

 expect few or no varietal names to appear in a list compiled by 

 themselves and over which they had full authority and control. 

 In 1903, Mr. B. B. Woodward compiled a list which, 

 strange to say, comprised the names of fourteen varieties, 

 chiefly slugs ; but in the new and revised edition (1914), 

 prepared in collaboration with Mr. Kennard and presumably 

 embodying all the fruits of the eleven years additional experi- 

 ence and study, we find that instead of a decrease, there is an 

 enormous increase in the number of accepted and adopted 

 varieties, as more than three hundred additional names have 

 been approved and included therein, including one described 

 and named by Mr. Woodward himself, which appertains to 

 Pisidium, a group of shells to which he has devoted considerable 

 attention, the results being published in the form of a Mono- 

 graph, and although this work has been and is still subjected 

 to very severe criticism, and its reliability and accuracy very 

 strongly impugned by competent and experienced authorities, 



1918 Aug. 1. 



