The description of the New Zealand Cenozoic Mollusca: A historical survey

Abstract

A checklist of 2,915 species or subspecies of Mollusca known as Tertiarv of Quaternary fossils in New Zealand has been analysed in terms of the authorship and date of publication. Beginning with the descriptions of living shells by conchologists of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century, the fossil list received notable additions in 1864 from Hochstetter's visit, in 1873 from Hutton's work for the Geological Survey, in 1885 from the same author in Canterbury, and in 1917–20 from Suter, Marshall, Murdoch, and their contemporaries. The greatest increment of all, in the period 1924–42, is due to the activities of Finlay, Marwick, Powell, and Laws.