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Show 1867.] DR. J. E. GRAY ON THE CALYPTR.EIDJE. 72/ which is published in some of the Parliamentary Papers relative to the Museum, the collection was without any names or habitats to the species. The names have been added since Mr. Cuming's recovery, and gummed to the mouth of one of the specimens of each preserved species. These names were not affixed hy the original describers and figurers of the species, but by two well-known conchologists; and as they must be considered to rest on identification by the latter and not by the original describers, this rather detracts from their authenticity as absolute types of the species described. It is to be regretted that when these names were attached the special habitats of the specimens were not also marked on them. I am informed that as soon as any specimens were described Mr. Cuming was in the habit of destroying the habitats sent with them, as he said they could be discovered by looking at the work in which they were described. This is certainly a very inconvenient and roundabout way of arriving at the information required : if the species was procured from two or more localities, one is not able to discover which specimen belonged to each special locality. In many of the specimens, especially those that have not yet been determined or named, the habitat, written on a small paper label, is stuffed into the mouth of the shell. As yet I have not observed any indication of the depths in the ocean whence the specimens were obtained. Indeed it was only the specimens which Mr. Cuming or a few other collectors themselves dredged to which such an addition could be made ; and I suppose that Mr. Cuming would also say that this could be obtained from the work in which the species are described. But here, again, the same uncertainty prevails; which are the specimens that were obtained at the depth indicated ? Perhaps all those that were referred to when first described have been replaced by other and better specimens obtained at a very different depth ; for shells vary in size and colour according to the depths at which they may have happened to live. It was of necessity impossible that Mr. Cuming could have ascertained the depth at which the shells lived that he obtained from the various collections he selected from, or from other dealers*. * Indeed I am not willing to pay so much regard to the depth at which species are said to have been obtained as some geologists appear to do, except when the specimens are obtained at some special dredging. M y faith was shaken by the following fact:-A collection of shells was offered to m e for sale, at the time that geologists were interested in the depth at which mollusca live, which I carefully examined ; but as it contained many duplicates I declined it, and it was purchased by a respectable dealer. And what was m y astonishment, when the collection was offered to m e to select from, to find that each species was marked with the depth at which it was obtained, for which there was not the slightest authority ; but the subject of depth was exciting interest at the time, and its being attached to the specimen was supposed to give them an additional value; and 1 regret to say I have seen these pretended depths quoted in a geological work as if they were true. Persons who have theories to propose or support are often not sufficiently alive to the great necessity of examining the authority of the statements which they receive and quote as facts, or the readiness with which persons, when money is to be made by the subject, are willing to stretch a point to suit their purpose. |