BJOLOCy OF AMERICAN MOLLUSKS. 351 



communications from leading scientific men, almost all strongly advocating the 

 scheme, particularly that portion of it relating to the publication of a geological 

 magazine. After some discussion, principally of a nature favorable to the under- 

 taking, it was decided to adjourn to the Molson Hall, as the room then being used 

 was required for other purposes. This was accordingly done and a private ses- 

 sion was held. 



BIOLOGY. 



BIOLOGY OF AMERICAN MOLLUSKS. 



The Vice-President, Prof. Wm. H. Dall, read his opening address, taking 

 for his subject the " Biology of American Mollusks " and what knowledge has 

 been acquired regarding them. The study of mollusks, he first remarked, was 

 at first gesthetic rather than scientific, and to this day its popularity is chiefly fos- 

 tered by the satisfaction of the sense of beauty derived from a contemplation of 

 the exquisite shells produced by some members of this branch of the animal king- 

 dom. The almost purely artificial classification of shell-bearing mollusks by Lin- 

 naeus was so convenient that later on great difficulty was experienced in chang- 

 ing it, and confusion in the nomenclature yet puzzles the student. Thos. Say 

 was the pioneer conchologist of America, and in 1816 published the first scien- 

 tific article upon the shells of the country. For many years American students of 

 conchology were occupied in the description and iconography of our native mol- 

 lusks as an inevitable preliminary to the study of geographical distribution and 

 other more philosophical branches of the subject. The molluscan fauna of the 

 land and fresh water shells of North America is now very well known, although 

 something yet remains to be done in the Southern States. With marine forms 

 the case is different. The fauna of Canada and of the eastern coast of the United 

 States had been worked very thoroughly by resident naturalists, and Carpenter, 

 Cooper, Gabb, Hemphill and others had given a pretty good knowledge of the 

 western coast, except the Alaskan coast. The mollusk fauna of the Arctic Coast 

 is also well known. On the southern coast, especially about the Gulf of Califor- 

 nia, the knowledge is by no means thorough. 



The speaker then referred to the rich finds of shells, recent and fossil, made 

 in Colorado, Nicaragua, Laramie and elsewhere, and drew attention to the im- 

 portance of the discoveries in the recent deep sea dredging. The anatomical 

 features of the adult mollusks, except in a few groups, have been much neglected 

 and are of no first importance. The soft parts of even our common oyster are 

 differently described by different naturalists, and monographed by none. The 

 instinctive and mental phenomena which may be exhibited by living mollusks 

 have not yet been subjected to an investigation. A few persons merely had de- 



