151 



FIRST SKETCH OF A MARINE INVERTEBRATE 

 FAUNA OF THE GULF OF PARIA AND ITS 

 NEIGHBOURHOOD. 



Part I. — Mollusca. 



By R, J. LECHMERE GUPPY, F.L.S., C.M.Z.S., etc. 



(Extracted from the Proceedings of the Scientific Association of Trinidad, 

 December iSyj, pp. 1J4. to 1^7.) 



The following list is onlyproposed as an instalment of the subject. 

 It will be liable to large expansion, and doubtless to some revision. 

 I waited for years to be able to furnish a more complete and 

 perfect hst; but I perceive that unless a beginning is made no 

 progress can be expected, and I prefer therefore to pubhsh the 

 information I now possess, which can be added to from time to 

 time as opportunity may offer. 



All the species enumerated have been collected by myself 

 either in the Gulf of Paria or on the coasts adjoining. Although 

 consisting, for the most part, of names only, yet this list represents 

 a very large amount of work, not only in collecting but in the 

 study and identification of the shells, and in assigning to them 

 their proper names, amid the heap of synonyms and inaccurate 

 determinations with which unfortunately the science of malacology 

 is burdened. My guide as to nomenclature has been chiefly 

 Krebs' catalogue of the West Indian marine shells, — a work 

 published for private circulation only, but which is most valuable 

 for its suggestions as to synonymy. I have, however, allowed 

 myself considerable liberty in the fusion of specific names allowed 

 to stand in Krebs' list; for the author of that work, while 

 condemning the "sickly passion" which possesses some naturalists 

 for describing so-called new species, still allowed too many doubtful 

 appellations to crowd his pages. 



