[418]
and jurassic deposits. . . . Imagine that all this is at my full disposal for description and illustration, and you will understand my pleasure.
The liberality of the American naturalists toward me is unparalleled.
I must not omit to mention Mr. Lea's collection of fresh-water shells,—a series of the magnificent Unios of the rivers and lakes of America, comprising four hundred species, represented by some thirty specimens of each.
Mr. Lea has promised me specimens of all the species.
Had I not been bound by an engagement at Washington, and could I have remained three or four days longer in order to label and pack them, I might have taken at once these valuable objects, which will be of great importance in verifying and rectifying the synonyms of European conchologists.
After having seen the astonishing variations undergone by these shells in their growth, I am satisfied that all which European naturalists have written on this subject must be revised.
Only with the help of a very full series of individuals can one fully understand these animals, and we have only single specimens in our collections.
If I had time and means to have drawings made of all these forms, the collection of Mr. Lea would be at
This text is part of:
Houghton, Mifflin and company, New York, Boston, 1885.
Tufts University provided support for entering this text.
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.
An XML version of this text is available for download, with the additional restriction that you offer Perseus any modifications you make. Perseus provides credit for all accepted changes, storing new additions in a versioning system.