CARR — VOYAGE ROUND TRINIDAD. 
365 
not so, over the world, with Cedars, Oaks, Beefwoods, &c, ? 
Such confusion shows the value of a fixed systematic nomen- 
clature, but as this can never come into common use, we 
should endeavor, in common names, to hold to some special 
and if possible the aboriginal name of a plant, as Mammee 
instead of Mammee-apple, Jambolan instead of Java-plum 
or its absurd creole alternative of Prune mariage, Avocado 
instead of Avocato-pear, Alligator-pear or Zaboca, and so on 
through numberless instances. I once asked an old black 
man what, if any, common name was given to a pretty pink- 
flowering plant (Stachytarpheta mutabilis) — pointing to it — 
“wha’ we caal ’im, hea’about ? — Queen- Victoria dressin’- 
gown-bush, — da he naim, — putty flower !” 
On the beach of l’Anse Caribe a Conchologist would look 
in vain for a single shell ; yet a friend who stayed there ten 
days during last month, December, brought back from it not 
less than 30 species, in various condition, whole, broken, and 
fragments. We had been talking of shells before he went 
down, and when there, having little occupation or variety of 
modes in which to pass the time, his household amused them- 
selves with seeking shells by scraping aside the stones and 
fine gravel. Columbella mercatoria , Nassa antillarum , Ce~ 
rithium vulgatum , Cerithium versicolor and Purpura auri = 
culata , were numerous ; Mur ex pomiformis, Columbella lce~ 
vigata , Capulus intortus, Merita praecognita i Ciphonaria 
lineata and the handsome Triton pilearis were pretty fre- 
quent — the remainder were generally single specimens or 
fragments — these were all what a malacologist would call 
dead shells, indicating nevertheless the existence of as many 
living species of mollusks in the sea washing that shore. 
On the very narrow beach cleared of the bushes for a land- 
