THi CONCIIOLOGICAL MAGAZINE. 



edge in our country. From both these undertakings, I suffer no 

 small loss and I am in need of a large amount of money. I am 

 doing this work by myself independently, and no financial help 

 do I receive from any one. Most of my slender means was lost 

 for the work, therefore my family live in a very frugal manner, 

 enduring every inconvenience in our mode of life and we are all 

 thus striving for the future success of the work. 



Most people collect shells merely for sport on the beach, but 

 the) r are commonly dead shells which were carried up on the 

 sand by the waves. Their shapes are not perfect ; colours are 

 faded away. They have lost their operculata in operculated 

 species. In bivalves, they have lost one side. It is not the same 

 with my collection. I have taken care on these points. My 

 specimens are all fresh. Their lustre and shapes are as natural 

 as they were in the bottom of the sea. They are good both for 

 use by the conchologists and for show. It is not too much, to 

 say that my collection is larger than those in either the Imperial 

 Museum or in the Imperial Universities. Mine is far greater in 

 number and much superior in quality. Therefore I am confident 

 enough to say that mine is the largest in Japan. At present, there 

 are above eight thousand in my collection, five thousand being for- 

 eign species. In counting Japanese species, each species includes 

 more than one specimen, often of those which came from different 

 localities, for I carefully arrange them according to their localities, 

 for the convenience of examination. If I count these, the number 

 of the Japanese shells will be numbered by tens of thousand. 

 There are many rare species among them, for which it is almost 

 beyond hope to send collectors again. My collection is not only 

 valuable in this country, but also to the world conchologists for 

 the study of this branch. Even for these reasons alone it is neces- 

 sary to keep the specimens in safety. Now this valuable col- 

 lection is merely piled up in the store and the full use of it is 

 impossible. It would be not only my own calamity, but also the 

 misfortune of the world, if by accident, like fire, we happen to 

 lose these specimens which were collected after hard striving for 

 years. Some one says that it will be better for the safety of 

 keeping to make over my collection to either of the museums. 



