( CI ) 
VII. Description of several Marine Animals found on the South 
Coast of Devonshire. By George Montagu, Esq. F.L.S. 
Read December 7, 1802. 
As a partial residence for some years on the coast of South 
Devon, has given me an opportunity of more immediately turn- 
ing my thoughts on the animal productions of the sea, so my re- 
searches, in this confined coast of that unbounded and immeasu- 
rable tract, have convinced me how little is yet known of the 
hidden treasures of the deep. 
In pursuit of my first object, that of making myself acquainted 
with all the British Testacea and their animal inhabitants, as far 
as possible, I soon discovered that much remained to be done in 
that branch of natural history; having with diligent search and 
indefatigable attention added nearly double the number of species 
to those already given by any author, as indigenous to our coasts. 
In the different modes which were adopted to obtain these ob- 
jects, and that mostly under my own eye, it was not possible to 
examine the mass of matter which was occasionally forced from 
the bottom of the ocean, without having the attention diverted by 
the singularity and beauty of the wonderful variety with which 
that element is replete; and I soon discovered that in \ke Crus- 
tacea and Mollusca, as well as Testacea, the British Fauna, and, 
perhaps, natural history in general, especially with respect to the 
smaller marine animals, are far from being arrived at maturity. 
Amongst the former, the genus Cancer seems to be much more 
numerous in its species than has been generally imagined ; and 
while 
