26 Faficifnl Ideas for a Museum of Shells. 



help giving him a much higher place in the scale of animals 

 than any naturalist has yet assigned him. Besides these, we 

 conchologists have otherwise, for the adornment of the 

 learned and accomplished, our Cy^rce^a [Cypris, one of the 

 names of Venus) arabica {fg. 4. c)\ our musics, Voliita {voluta, 

 a volute; form) musica (the surface resembling musical scores) 

 {fig. 4. dd)\ our harps, Voluta harpa (ribs like the strings of the 

 harp) {fg. 4. e)\ and our Conus (konos, a cone ; form) ammi- 

 ralis {fig, 4.y) ; while, for the designation of rising merit, 

 we can offer the cradle-formed Chiton {chiton, a coat of 

 mail ; loricated appearance) {fig. 4. g), and the Cypr^^a Au- 

 rora, {fig. 4. h.) For the depiction of the profoundly heavy, 

 and the heavily profound, (for you know, Mr. Editor, there 

 are such in the literary world,) we would employ the Chama 

 {chamo, to gape ; though only one species, the C. gigas, gapes) 

 gigas {gigas, a giant) {fig. 4. z), the heaviest shell in our pos- 

 session, its weight being often six or seven hundred pounds ! 

 The plagiarist, or he who erects the fabric of his fame with 

 scraps stolen from the labours of others, should be indebted 

 for his garments to the Sabella {sabulum, fine sand or gravel ; 

 constituent parts of the shell) tribe {fig. 5. a), whose shell, as 



a 



a, SabeHa. b. Microscopic shells. c c c, Fossil shells. 



naturalists inform us, is entirely composed of fragments 

 formerly belonging to various other kinds. It is to be re- 

 gretted that the dextrous hermit, Cancer Bernardw5 {St. Ber- 

 nard, of Menthon, the benevolent founder of the Alpine mo- 

 nasteries of Great and Little St. Bernard), of whom we are told 

 by honest Isaac Walton, has no shell of his own, otherwise 

 it might well aid in the representation of him, who, though 

 prone and forward to assert, is deficient in argument, and 

 therefore has recourse to that of others, in order to defend 

 himself; for, as we are informed by the above-mentioned 

 author, whenever this curious animal is attacked, he always 



