EDITORIAL NOTES. 287 



A paper entitled " Les Mollusques de la Bale de Saint-Malo," by MM. Uaut- 

 zenberp; and Durouchoux, published in the Fenille des Jeunes Natiiralistes, 1913, 

 is of special interest to British marine conchologists, partly because of the close 

 relationship between the shells of S. Malo and those of the Channel Isles, and 

 partly because of certain points raised in nomenclature. The total number of 

 species from the bay is 238, and the author gives a very large number of named 

 varieties, many of them being merely colour forms. Donax vittatus var. lactea 

 Martel is antedated by var. albida Marshall. 



The following are some of the changes in nomenclature proposed : The authors 

 state (l), that Basterot's Bulla lajonkaheana is a miocene fossil very different from 

 the long-spired form of Tomatitia obtitsa Mont, to which Jeffreys applied the name 

 var. lajonkaii-eana Bast., and jhat the latter must be called var. caiididula Loc. 

 (2), That Nassa pygniaa must be called N. varicosa Turton, Lamarck's name 

 being preoccupied by Schlotheim. (3), That Kissoia violacea Desm. is exclusively 

 Mediterranean, and that our shell which goes by this name must be called R. 

 lilacina Recluz. (4), That, as the generic name Pherusa is i^reoccupied, they 

 propose Marteliella as a generic name for Pherusa gulsonce Clark. They appear, 

 however, to have overlooked Norman's name Pherusina proposed in lieu oi Pherusa 

 for this same shell. Pherusina seems to occur first in the Museum Normanianum, 

 part iv., p. 18 (1888), but as this catalogue was " printed for private distribution " 

 and presumably never on sale, it would not constitute publication. The name, 

 however, was properly published in the Conchological Society's " List of British 

 Marine Mollusca and Brachiopoda," y<j«r«. of Conch., vol. 10, p. 20 (1901), and 

 renders Marteliella superfluous. (5), That the shell which we usually call Gibbula 

 umbilicata Mont, is daCosta's Trochus umbilicalis, the latter being prior both to 

 Montagu's name and to Gmelin's obliqiiatus. 



This paper is accompanied by four photographic plates, the species figured 

 being mostly Rissoids and Pyramidellids with which we are familiar on our own 

 coasts. 



The following notice has been communicated : — 



Manual of the New Zealand Mollusca, with an atlas of quarto plates, by 

 Henry Suter ; published by the authority of the Government of New Zealand, 

 Wellington, N.Z. John Mackay, Government Printer, 1913 ; pp. i.— xxiii., 

 I — 1120. 



The appearance of this work marks the extraordinary advance made in concho- 

 logical science at the Antipodes in recent years. \Yhen Jeffreys' British Conchology 

 was published no list of New Zealand mollusca was in existence ; the first appeared 

 in 1873, the second in 1880, and the present magnificent volume in 1913. Suter 

 notes that in the 1880 Manual 595 species were admitted, but of these 148 have 

 been proved to be exotic, leaving 447 Neozelanic species at that time valid. The 

 present Manual covers 1187 distinct forms, an advance almost beyond the appre- 

 ciation of a student of Palsearctic forms. 



The 1 1 87 forms are all described in detail, and as the synopsis given on pp. 

 xvii.— xxiii. shows these to be divided into 164 families and 324 genera, the work 

 of compilation must be regarded as of a monumental nature, for all these higher 

 groupings are diagnosed, in most cases full details of the molluscs being given. 

 When the disabilities of working under Antipodean conditions are considered, 

 nothing but praise can be accorded Mr. Suter upon the completion of such a 

 splendid guide to the Mollusca of New Zealand. It would be easy for one sur- 

 rounded by the wealth of British Museums, both as regards specimens and litera- 



