Pvn H,i I'UitlS

LORIPES. 23:
and returned by the latter with a note in pencil, " not
C. discoid" The specimen and memorandum are close
beside me while I am writing.
I mention this because
there seems to have been some confusion as to what
species Montagu intended by
Nearly the whole of his priceless
his Cardium discors.
collection of British
shells, which he presented to the National Museum, has
unluckily been lost to science : and even some of the
few specimens that are still preserved were many years
ago removed from the original tablets, no care having
apparently been taken in the course of rearrangement to
retain the names affixed by the donor to his types.
No
similar neglect, however, has happened of late years;
and all that can now be desired by the public to ensure
proper care being
taken of our unrivalled store of scien-
tific wealth, and its being made available for the instruc-
tion and amusement of the people, are more space and
a larger staff.
Dr. Pulteney, Mr. Bryer, and Dr. Maton are reported
to have found the Venus tigerina of Linne (a species of
Loripes) on several parts
of the Dorset coast. There
is no likelihood, much less satisfactory evidence, that
it is indigenous. It inhabits tropical seas.
Another species, the Venus orbiculata of Montagu,
said to have been found by Laskey at Dunbar, is also
spurious. It is the Lucina squamosa of Lamarck, and
West Indian.
I was assured by Dr. Lukis that the Tellina carnaria
of Linne had been taken alive at Guernsey ;
and I have
noticed it on the Continent in collections of Mediter-
ranean shells. Most writers on British and European
conchology have given it a place in their lists ;
and Mid-
dendorff asserts that it is a native of the Caspian Sea.
But although I may be over-sceptical,
I must hesitate