198 Mr. Broderip on two new Shells from the Mauritius. 



Art. XXI. Some account of two n<£W Species of Shells 

 from the Mauritius, By W. J. Bboperip, Esq. F.L.S. 

 Sfc. 



We are living at a period, when a new impulse seems to be 

 given to the whole range of science and art ; not only in the 

 abstract, but also in their application to the wants, the comforts, 

 and the luxuries of life. Inventions, many of which will immortalize 

 their authors as the benefactors of mankind, rise upon us with 

 unprecedented rapidity; and natural history lends its light to the 

 schemes of the capitalist as well as to the views of the philosopher. 

 Companies are formed for ransacking the mines of distant regions, 

 nor does the spirit which has been spreading itself over the land, 

 stop there ; for it has already invaded the sea. Whether the Me- 

 leagrina of the Gulf of Mexico and the Bay of Panama will 

 produce such beautiful pearls as the Meleagrina of the Persian 

 i -Gulf and the coasts of Ceylon, is a problem which will be soon 

 solved. An examination of the bivalve of the west and its pearls, 

 leads one to fear, that, however great their quantity may be, the 

 average quality will be inferior io that of the produce of the 

 Oriental shell : and it may be, perhaps, matter of surprise among 

 those acquainted with the marine zoology of the respective coun- 

 tries, that, in this age of speculation, British capital and British 

 machinery have not yet found their way to the well stored seas of 

 ^the East, where Pearls of princely size and beauty are painfully 

 fished up by the naked djver, under all the horrors of encounter- 

 ing the deadly ground shark. 



I have been led io advert io this line of speculation, because in 

 many of the seas where pearls are found, the most costly shells 

 occur; and those who would be at the pains of using their oppor- 

 tunity for collecting them, would find that the labour of their 

 search, if directed by competent knowledge, would not be ill 

 rewarded even in a pecuniary point of view, more especially if 

 they would take particular care not to break or clean the shells, 

 and would also preserve a few of each species, with the animals, in 

 spirits. 



