254 PROCEEDINGS OP THE MALACOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



Yet in spite of this lack of knowledge I shall venture to put 

 forward tentative views based on the mean development of the 

 individual. 



Here I must pay a tribute to the work of J. E,. Bourguignat, 

 who was the pioneer in this line of research. Opinions may differ 

 as to the wisdom of the " New School " in departing from the 

 original conception of a species, yet the idea of the founder was by 

 80 doing to furnish the nomenclatorial details to enable us to 

 ascertain what were the circumstances and climate when such 

 deposits as I am now discussing were accumulated. For this 

 purpose he considered that the varying forms arising from environ- 

 ment should be ranked as species and described and figured as such. 

 Whether the conclusions arrived at in his " Mollusques terrestres 

 et fluviatiles des environs de Paris a I'epoque quaternaire ", 

 " Histoire des monuments megalithique de Koknia ", and " Histoire 

 de la colline de Sansan " are absolutely correct or not time alone 

 can tell, but there can be no doubt that many. will stand the test. 

 I trust I may be permitted to lay a wreath of appreciation on his 

 grave, more especially as in his case " the crown of the innovator 

 was a crown of thorns ". In studying his work and the adverse 

 criticisms passed on it, one is impressed by the fact that there are 

 two viewpoints in nomenclature, that of the systematist and that of 

 the palaeontologist, and each of these is based on their needs. The 

 former has no interest in the variation of forms, and has grudgingly 

 admitted even the existence of sub-species. He has no need to 

 name syntonic forms, and the more comprehensive the species the 

 easier the work of placing it in its correct relative position. But 

 the palaeontologist has other aims. He wishes to reconstruct the 

 past, and how can he do this if a specific name, say Fruticicola 

 {Capillifera) hispida (Linn.), indicates an allied group of forms living 

 from Southern Europe to the Arctic Circle that flourishes in damp 

 situations, and is equally common on a dry hillside and in inter- 

 mediate situations, each distinct habitat possessing its own form. 

 In such a case the systematist only needs and uses one name, but 

 to the palaeontologist this name conveys little or nothing. 



Bourguignat was at heart a palaeontologist; he realized their needs, 

 and he endeavoured to the best of his ability, and it was certainly 

 of no mean order, to provide a scheme of nomenclature that would 

 satisfy their requirements. It failed principally through the excesses 

 of his followers, who possessed neither his knowledge nor his " fiaire ". 

 The older system is based on the immutability of species, a view 

 which received its deathblow many years ago from the " Origin of 

 Species ". I think that had Bourguignat thrown over the fetish 

 of binominalism and adopted the trinominal system he would have 

 had a much larger following, and this course will eventually be found 

 to be the means of reconciling the two divergent views. 



In considering the question of the development of the mollusca 



