58 
SPECIES AND VARIETIES. 
Tlie elevation of variously modified forms, and also those of a 
doubtful or transitional nature to specific rank, as is unfortunately 
the practice with some of the most able and acute continental con- 
chologists of the present day, is earnestly to be deprecated. The 
treatment of these forms as varietal would sufficiently accentuate 
any differences they might possess, and yet fully preserve the 
necessary indication of their specific affinities ; this object our gifted 
continental friends seek to attain by adopting a system of grouping, 
which groups are, 1 believe, nearly if not (piite, co-ordinate with the 
old Linnean and Lamarckian species, thus the group SUiguaViand 
would in England be consideied to be iiractically synonymous with 
the Linnean species JAmnwd sfdgiudis and tlie different forms coin- 
jtosing that group, would he, to our English views, simple varieties of 
that species. This unfortunate i)ractice of mnltiplying species upon 
the slightest and most insufficient cliaracters, cannot fail sooner or 
later to bring about a reaction, and thus cause more attention to be 
directed to the common, rather than to the divergent characters of 
species. 
Varieties. 
The tendency of olfsju-ing to resemble their parents is undeniable, 
yet no two children or organisms are e.vactly like each other, or like 
their parents in every particular, owing to being differently affected 
individually by the pre-natal as well as the post-natal environment, 
and diverging correspondingly from the likeness of their progenitors ; 
these divergent forms are called 
Varietie.s, and have been well defined as incipient species; marked 
divergence has begun, which may under firvonrable circumstances 
culminate in the evolution of distinct species. Varieties rank next in 
imi)ortance to species, and in accordance with their greater or lesser 
divergence from the typical form, have been subdivided and designated 
by various subsidiary names, intended to convey the relative degree 
of modification they have undergone. 
Varieties may be individual, that is, occurring only in a more or 
less isolated and sporadic way; or, they may be of a sexual character, 
as in the diiecious species of both Univalves and Bivalves, in which 
the shells of the female individuals are generally characterized by a 
more obese and tumid form than those of the males. The peculiari- 
ties distinguishing varieties may also be acquired during growth, 
