OF CONCHOLOGY. 201 



make observations on the animals; but for tlie shore shells, 

 including the minute species, there is scarcely any thing left 

 to be desired. The author describes 157 as new species: of 

 the value of many of these there will be two opinions. Pro- 

 fessor Adams, in his work on Jamaica Shells, ('Contributions 

 to Conchology,' pp. 84 et seq.^) gives up the common opinion 

 that species are natural groups, while genera, &c., are artificial: 

 and as he believes that there are diSerent species as well as 

 varieties of mankind, it is natural that he should distinguish 

 as species of shells what others might consider varieties, and 

 as varieties what may be accidents of growth. To the dis- 

 cerning reader, however, this does not interfere with the ex- 

 treme value of the work. In a branch of inquiry so over- 

 burdened with carelessly observed or recorded facts, the free- 

 dom from the usual sources of error is a matter of the first 

 importance. Where a species has originated in a mere theory, 

 as in the case of common types from the two oceans, the stu- 

 dent is. at once on his guard. Where it arises from deficiency 

 of materials, as in the Goeca, additional knowledge will soon 

 set the error right. And in the present state of our ignorance, 

 to designate forms as species which will hereafter have to be 

 united; is much more pardonable than to overlook differences, 

 all of which should be carefully noted before we can obtain a 

 natural history of any single species. For the first great 

 requirement in a scientific writer, patient and laborious 

 accuracy, this, the last work of Professor Adams, (for he 

 died in 1853,) stands in the very foremost rank. The new 

 species are described in Latin, and with an accuracy which 

 often makes it safer to identify shells from them alone, than 

 from the showy plates and loose diagnoses of some works of 

 the greatest pretensions." 



Mr. Carpenter, several years after the publication of his 

 Keport, visited America, and found that no steps had been 

 taken to figure the unique specimens deposited in the Museum 

 at Amherst, or to verify Adams' determinations of old species. 

 Fortunately for the cause of science, Mr. Carpenter went to 

 Amherst, and, with his accustomed care and fidelity, examined 

 Professor Adams' Panama collection. The result, a "Keview 

 of Professor C. B. Adams' Catalogue of the Shells of Panama, 

 from the Type Specimens," was published in the "Proceedings 

 of the Zoological Society of London," (June, 1863.) Mr. Car- 

 penter, in pointing out some errors in the diagnoses of small 

 shells, and referring, among other things, to the incessant de- 

 mands on the Professor's attention, from his multifarious du- 

 ties at Amherst, precluding much time for original research, 

 justly remarks: — "What he accomplished during his short life 

 is marvellous. Had that life been spared to revise his works, 



