1879.] 
President's Address. 
55 
Nevill’s ‘ Hand-list of Mollusca,’ is little more than an enumeration of the 
specimens in the Museum. This by itself is extremely useful, and would 
be easily rendered more so by a reference to a description and figure in the 
case of each species, but it is a matter for regret that the labour spent 
in determining so many foreign land Mollusca, all comparatively well 
known, and perhaps better monographed than almost any other section of 
invertebrata, should not have been devoted instead to the preparation of a 
work on the marine Mollusca of the Indian seas. 
One small fasciculus, containing three families of freshwater Gastero¬ 
poda, , the Ampullar idee, Valvatulce and Paludinidce was issued in 1877. 
This part contained numerous references, and many excellent critical 
remarks, hut in the much larger part printed last year the remarks are 
comparatively much fewer, and scarcely any references are given. This, it 
is true, is not of much importance, since the Indian land-shells are mostly 
figured in the 1 Conchologia Indica’, and all can be found in Pfeiffer’s mono¬ 
graphs, both of which works are, of course, well known to every naturalist 
who pays more than a passing attention to the subject, but it may fairly be 
hoped that any future fasciculi containing lists of marine Mollusca will be 
rendered more useful to students by the addition of references, if not of 
descriptions. It is also, I think, unfortunate that Mr. Nevill should have 
adopted the classification of Cams and Gaerstecker, as it is, I believe, in error 
in classing together the Nelicinidce, Cyclostomidce and Cyclotidce in one 
suborder Neurobranchia, a suborder founded on the old false system of 
neglecting all the details of structure except the characters of one promi¬ 
nent organ. The breathing organ is selected in this particular instance, 
although its variability in some families of Prosobranchiate Gasteropoda, 
such as the Littorinidce and Oerithiidce, is notorious, and the close resem¬ 
blance of these groups to some of the so-called Neurobranchia is manifest. 
It is true that Mr. Nevill has the majority of'European conchologists with 
him, but very few of these have had the same advantage of becoming ac¬ 
quainted with the animals of operculated land-shells that Indian observers 
possess. If the Cyclophoridce belong to a suborder of Gasteropoda distinct 
from that comprising Littorinidce, and if the distinction of the supposed 
suborder Neurobranchia be founded on the absence of gills, why is not 
Assiminea removed from the Itissoidce (as is done by von Martens) and 
Cerithidea obtusa* from the Gerithiidce, and both classed with the other 
air-breathing Gasteropoda ? 
Another cause for regret, due I believe also to the evil example of 
Messrs. Cams and Gaerstecker, is the want of uniformity in the terrni- 
* See Stoliczka P. A. S. B., 1869, p. 187, and 1871, p. 114. Dr. Stoliczka’s most 
valuable observations appear to have been much overlooked by Malacologists. 
