JOUUNAL OK CONCUOI.OCV, VOL. l6, NO. 2, AUGUST 30, I919. 4I 



species that shews much variation is represented most amply with 

 a profusion of fine specimens. 



He was awarded the Gold Medal of the Linnean Society in 1906 ; 

 was F.R.S., F.L.S., M.A. (Oxon), LL.D., and D.C.L. (Durham). 

 In 1892 he accepted the Presidency of the Conchological Society of 

 Great Britain and Ireland ; and subsequently that of the Museums' 

 Association. 



The memory of one always kind-hearted, generous, sympathetic, 

 and wishful to aid those who asked of him advice, will remain green 

 for many a generation. The funeral took place at Burnmoor, where 

 he had resided so many years. 



Unauthentic Records of Theba cantiana (Mont.) monst. sinistrorsum 

 in England. — In January, 1889, Mr. J. W. Taylor recorded the occurrence of 

 sinistral examples of Helix {Theba) cantiana in Wiltshire, stalled to have been 

 found by Mr. Rippon, of Norwood. 1 In January of this year Mr. Rippon's collec- 

 tion came into the possession of the National Museum of Wales, and in June last 

 a detailed examination of the various cabinets was made. About this time Mr. 

 Taylor wrote asking me to keep a look-out for sinistral specimens in order to 

 verify the above record, and in the Helicidic cabinet a tray was found containing 

 five examples, labelled " Helix cantiana var., Wilts." A cursory examination was 

 sufficient to show me that the shells were not what they pretended to be, and that 

 a mistake had been made. I suspected them to be Eulota fortunei Pfr., an oriental 

 species, an identification since kindly confirmed by Mr. G. K. Gude, who refers 

 them to the var. ineridionalis MUdff. Accidentally included in the same tray is 

 an example of A}-iophanta Lcvipcs (Muller). The mistake is an extraordinary one ! 

 I do not think for a moment that Mr. Rippon could have had any desire to impose 

 on his friends, but with such a mass of material under his care it is possible that 

 his memory played him a trick, or more likely still, that he accepted the record 

 of another collector in good faith. Etdota fortunei Pfr. var. tneridionalisMW(S^. 

 might have a great superficial resemblance to a sinistral Theba cantiafia, but it 

 would be seen to differ materially in the striation and in the narrow open umbili- 

 cus. Mr. Rippon corresponded largely, and amassed a collection of exotic insects 

 and shells, comprising nearly a quarter of a million specimens. It is not surprising, 

 therefore, to find other specimens on record, received in all probability by exchange. 

 Canon J. W. Horsley has had a specimen for years, and has very kindly sent this 

 to me for comparison. This shell agrees exactly with those in the Rippon Collec- 

 tion. Mr. G. K. Gude has also a specimen which he got from a dealer in 1895, 

 said to have been found in Dorset, but he now says that this shell is also identical 

 with those in the Rippon Collection. There remains only Mr. J. W. Taylor's 

 shell, but as this came originally from Mr. Rippon's Cabinet, the deduction is 

 obvious. — J. Davy Dean, National INIuseum of Wales {Head be/ore the Society, 

 December nth, 1918). 



I Jouiii. of Conch.., vol. vi, p. 33; see albo Taylor's Monograpli, vol. iv, p. 92. 



