The first argument in @_ is the package/class name. use my $class = shift; to strip that, then use bless ($self, $class); just for kicks.

Added: just as a note, I strongly recommend reading merlyn's incredibly straightforward "perlboot" document (found in Perl 5.6+ by typing perldoc perlboot, found in every up-to-date perldoc online compendium, like this one). This is simply the shortest, sweetest intro to Perl OO that you will ever find. Even if you are not new to OO, this document will take you through examples of the classic OO usages in Perl.