28 MARSHALL: ALTERATIONS IN ‘BRITISH CONCHOLOGY.’ 
Saxicava rugosa var. minuta L. ‘This variety should be 
expunged ; it is admittedly the immature stage of the 
var. arctica. 
Cadulus subfusiformis Sars.=C. jeffreysi Monts. (See 
‘J. of C.,’ vol. vii, No. 8). 
Dentalium abyssorum Sars = D. striolatum Stimpson 
(1851) as Sars himself admits. 
D. tarentinum Lam.— The law of priority in zoological 
nomenclature has been strangely disregarded in reference 
to this species, for while Lamarck neither figured nor 
properly described PD. farentinum, Da Costa did both for 
D. vulgare long previously, and it is surprising to find 
Jeffreys adhering to Lamarck’s name “because it would 
be inconvenient now to substitute it for tarentinum, which 
has been for between sixty and seventy years accepted and 
used by nearly every conchologist.” The British Associa- 
tion rules are too rigidly applied to make any allowances for 
“inconvenience,” and strict justice demands its restoration. 
Gasteropoda.—Without any explanation, Jeffreys merely says 
in his Appendix to ‘ British Conchology’—“For Gastero- 
poda read Gastropoda.” But the suggestion has not met 
with general approval. Dr. Watson writes in the ‘Chal- 
lenger’ Report—‘“‘ The alteration of Cuvier’s word to 
Gastropoda, which has found some acceptance, could only 
have been justified had he been wrong in his spelling, 
which he is not. Between the two forms of the Greek 
root in composition, surely Cuvier was free to choose 
which he pleased even though he preferred the less 
common one.” 
Against this, it may be remarked that it is a canon of 
literary law that a redundant letter or syllable, when 
doubtful or extraneous, may be expunged. Thus ecten 
tigerinus has been changed to P. tigrinus, Siphonodenta- 
lium to Sitphodentalium, &c., and they lose nothing by 
the incisions. 
J.C., viii., Jan. 1895. 
