NATURAL HISTORY. 
83 
that it can at present be otherwise than an outline, 
which future observation must confirm, and future 
research fill up. It will, however, be valuable as 
a record of past efforts, and will, I trust, give an 
impetus to our Zoological Committee to urge on 
their course with additional ardour, so that their 
contributions to science may be not merely an in- 
crease to a catalogue of names, but notices of facts 
important in their bearings upon Natural History, 
and interesting and useful to the world at large. 
Such was the object with which we commenced our 
career, and such I hope it will ever continue to be. 
With regard to the invertebral animals, and espe- 
cially as respects the Mollusca^ much remains to be 
done, few researches having been made among us in 
this department. One of our members has indeed 
promised to present the Museum with a complete 
collection of British land and fresh-water shells, 
which when completed will be an interesting ac- 
cession to our knowledge ; but at present my remarks 
on this department of zoology are necessarily very 
brief. Among the Ltmacidce, the great black slug, 
Arion ater\ is very common, and others of the same 
tribe, Limax c'mereus, and L. agrestls, are numerous 
and annoying to the gardener and agriculturist. 
The Hellcidce present to our notice the Helix nemo- 
ralis, the H. hortensis, the H. arbustorum, and the H. 
aspersa ; but the edible snail, H. pomatla, seems 
unknown among us. A variety of the smaller and 
less conspicuous species of these tribes also occur, 
as well as individuals of the genera Claicsilia, Bull- 
