1862.] MR. W. H. PEASE ON TWO NEW HELICTERES. 5 



Ferussac gives a monograph of the genus also under the name of 

 Helicter, correcting the synonomy of the original species by Chem- 

 nitz, and adding two more from the collection of Quoy and Gainiard. 

 In the year 1827 two of the above species were redescribed by Dr. 

 Green in the ' Collection of the Maclurian Lyceum/ Phil. U. S. 



In the ' Quarterly Journal of Science, Literature, and Art of the 

 Royal Institution of Great Britain' for the year 1828, Mr. Swainson 

 published descriptions of seven species, one of which was a synonym 

 of the original species by Chemnitz, and one of a species by Ferussac. 

 He also defines their generic character, and establishes the genus 

 Achatinella. No reference is made to previously described species, 

 excepting that by Dixon and the " seminigra " of Lamarck, which 

 he adopts as the type of his genus. His descriptions are introduced 

 by a few remarks on the difficulty of determining generic characters 

 from shells alone, and he reflects on continental authors for not adopt- 

 ing a more artificial system. He refers to the genus Helix as an 

 example. We quote his words : — "The truth of these remarks will ap- 

 pear very obvious on looking to the genus Helix, as it was left by 

 Linnseus, and as it was considered only a few years back, when the 

 French writers still considered it only in the light of a genus, con- 

 taining many hundreds of species. * * * The peculiar views of 

 M. Ferussac led him, in the first instance, to return to the old ar- 

 rangement, so far as to consider these shells merely as a genus 

 divided into subgenera, sections, &c. This view, however, he seems 

 at length to have gradually abandoned, and virtually to admit, what 

 indeed is quite obvious, that they constitute a family, and a very 

 extensive one, comprising numerous minor groups or genera, m.any of 

 which rest on striking dissimilarities in their animals, and all on 

 certain and obvious characters in the shell." * * * * "To charac- 

 terize a new form, and to give it a name, is no longer looked upon 

 as a dangerous innovation." Mr. Swainson appears to have carried 

 out this idea in his latest systematic work on shells (' Treatise on 

 Malacology'), as he there arranges the Testaceous Gasteropods under 

 360 genera and subgenera, 161 of which are his own. 



H. and A. Adams (who cannot be accused of restricting the num- 

 ber of genera) reduce about seventy-two of them to the rank of 

 synonyms. 



In his latest work Mr. Swainson does not refer to the genus He- 

 licter, but merely remarks that " we adopt M. Fdrussac's names 

 whenever they have a right to priority, and are classical." 



In the January number of the ' Bulletin des Sciences Naturelles,' 

 of the following year (1829), M. Ferussac published a rejoinder to 

 the above article by Mr. Swainson, and claimed priority for his 

 genus Helicter. We quote his words: — "Nous croyons devoir 

 rappeler a M. Swainson que la gloire ne s'acquiert pas en donnant 

 des noms nouveaux que personne ne respecte quand ils sont donnes 

 sans motifs, mais en etablissant des coupes fondees sur des caracteres 

 bien observes et reellement distinctifs, en saisissant les veritables rap- 

 ports naturels des etres, et en respectant ces rapports dans I'etablis- 

 sement des coupes de tons les degres ; nous ajouterons que, pour 



