448 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



logues a complete summary of the molluscan fauna of France. 

 The first two volumes appeared with the title ' Prodrome de 

 Malacologie Franchise et Catalogue general des Mollusques vivants 

 de France,' and dealt respectively with the terrestrial, fresh and 

 brackish-water forms and with the marine mollusca. They 

 contain only the synonymy, however, and the French localities for 

 each species, and give no descriptions. But this deficiency is 

 supplied in the contribution now before us, the volumes being 

 thus inter-dependent. By their aid the author claims that any 

 shell properly belonging to the French molluscan fauna may be 

 identified with certainty and with very little trouble. As regards 

 the illustrations, assuming that all the species in a given genus 

 may be grouped according to their affinities round a certain 

 number of prominent types, the author has supplied figures and 

 descriptions of these, so that the enquirer has only to differen- 

 tiate the surrounding allied forms by their essential characters. 

 This practical and simple method will no doubt facilitate 

 research ; but it would have been much more convenient if the 

 synonymy and the descriptions were in one and the same volume, 

 instead of being separated as they are. 



It is, we suppose, hopeless to expect anything like a con- 

 sensus of opinion in regard to classification, but we should have 

 liked M. Locard's work better if it were more conservative on 

 this point, and if the author were less fond of raising mere 

 varieties to the rank of species, and of changing well-known 

 specific names for no good reason. 



We observe that no account is given of the animals inhabiting 

 the shells ; the descriptions relate only to the shells themselves ; 

 so that while they satisfy the requirements of the mere collector, 

 they disappoint the conchologist who finds more pleasure in 

 examining the structure of the living mollusc and in learning 

 something of its life-history and habits. 



WEST, NKWMAN AND CO., PKTXTl.llk 1 1. 11 VIM- flAKPEN, TjONDON, E.C. 



