‘ 
THE MOLLUSCAN FAUNA OF TASMANIA. 33 
pb under the same name. The figures were excellent, and 
arned for the author ra Linné the title of “ nitidissimus,” 
a8, ae - most exa 
The advent of the eatin systematist Charles von Linné + 
began a new era for conchology. The first edition of his Systema, 
pabbahad in 1735, was little more than a small shapes ra 
fourteen folio pages, but which was sufficiently impor 
attract universal attention. His efforts in the matter of shells 
was less happy than other portions. e great aim of the 
author was simplicity, and this feature was decidedly ietttioak 
by his yenera being too few. Confusion, not simplicity, was the 
result. His original genera were only eight in number—viz., 
Cochlea, Cyprea, “Haliotis, Patella, Nautilus, Lepas, Concha, and 
Dentalium. Two or three more genera were added; but it was not 
until the tenth edition (1753) that he augmented the number to 
thirty-two, which was subsequently increased to thirty- five, and 
the most of them we have seen were taken from D’ Argenville. 
The genius of Linné was seen in the way in which he seized 
upon salient specific characters, and rejected the weak, shifting, 
and multitudinous seattonbie of preceding cig es 0 which im- 
peded science, as the re too sigan rous, non-per rmanent, and 
pier ay Still Linné never rose aca perception of the 
na of the nthseary with which sg ha d to deal. The shells 
were vail Testacea, and the animals which dwelt in them Vermes 
volume is published in 1764—that is "Ghee the ‘enth edition of 
his Systema—it preserves his old divisions of Conche and Cochlee. 
His Mantissa altera Se addition) embraces the description 
of t Pa new specie 
m Linné to Lamare oki is nearly half a century, that is from 
hy ‘dale of their systems; yet we have only very few pre- 
wainson, — — that the ~ are inferior, and whatever 
pase in the work was m Lister. “Shells and Shellfish,” p. ry 
+ The Swedish form ory ta name—i.e., gg» Tamera the one most in use. 
When kni a poe better known as Ch arles yon Linné. It is said that 
the ’ denotes a plebeian origin, and that when in 1757 
ie wae admitied amongst the hereditar obty be was called C. von 
