Introduction. 



The preparation of a faurial list of New England Mollusca at 

 this time, when nomenclature is so unsettled by the adoption of 

 the genera of Bolten and of other early writers, whose works were 

 either overlooked or ignored by the " old school," is fraught with 

 sad misgivings as one sees many of the names familiar from boyhood 

 swept into the synonymic sea. Though fully believing in the law 

 of priority, I should feel some hesitancy in presenting these names 

 in a faunal list, were it not for the fact that practically all of these 

 changes have been recently published, but so scattered through 

 various journals and papers that their adoption has not yet become 

 general. 



The Gould-Binney edition of the Invertebrates of Massachusetts, 

 published in 1870, is still the book on New England Mollusca and 

 will continue to be for some time; therefore in preparing this list 

 all of the names used in that work that have been changed, are 

 given in the synonymy. The second work bearing directly on the 

 fauna is Verrill's Report upon the Invertebrate Animals of Vineyard 

 Sound and Adjacent Waters, published by the United States Com- 

 mission of Fish and Fisheries in 1873. This was followed by his 

 " Catalogue of Marine Mollusca added to the fauna of the New 

 England coast and the adjacent parts of the Atlantic consisting 

 mostly of deep sea species " published in three parts in the Trans- 

 actions of the Connecticut Academy, 1882, 1884, and 1885. As 

 the latter papers contained many species foimd far beyond what 

 can be reasonably considered New England, the necessity of 

 establishing a New England marine faunal area became apparent. 

 A paper on this subject with the accompanying map was published 

 in the Society's Museum and Library Bulletin, No. 7, May, 1908. 



In forming this area we should take into consideration the 

 diversity of conditions off our coast, such as the great irregularity 

 in depth, the effect of currents and tides on the temperature of 

 the water, and the character of the sea bottom. These are impor-^ 



