91 m 



OBSERVATIONS ON THE BRITISH LAND AND 

 FRESH-WATER SHELLS, 



FOUND IN THB VICINITY OP CONGERSTONB, IN LEICESTERSHIRE, 



1835 — 6 ; WITH prefatory remarks on the advan- 

 tages OF CULTIVATING THE STUDY OP NATURAL HISTORY. 



The numerous clieap and well-executed works on Natural History 

 published of late years, have greatly tended to increase the facilities 

 for the study of this delightful and instructive science, and have 

 given an impulse to the investigation of the inexhaustible variety of 

 natural productions with which this country abounds. 



One of the advantages consequent on the zealous cultivation of 

 this branch of science, has been the organization of Natural History 

 Societies, where individuals, however they may differ in their poli- 

 tical or religious opinions, meet on neutral ground, without fear of 

 dissension. In lieu of that asperity of manner which too often cha- 

 racterize opponents in mixed assemblies of the present day, men of 

 inquiring minds, having one object in view — the advancement of 

 science, — at these occasional meetings display a kindly and liberal 

 feeling, and act in unison. 



In the midland counties, Worcestershire and Shropshire have 

 taken the lead in establishing societies for promoting the cultivation 

 of Natural History ; and it is to be hoped men equally devoted to the 

 cause of science will be found in this and the neighbouring coun- 

 ties, who will follow so laudable an example, and zealously pro- 

 mote the formation of similar institutions. I feel persuaded they 

 will receive the support and assistance of those classes of society 

 who are best able, by their education and their pecuniary resources, 

 to promote so desirable an object. Landed proprietors would, doubt- 

 less, furnish the museum with the rarer British birds, through the 

 medium of their keepers; a hortus siccus of the various plants, 

 with their localities described, would speedily be formed by zealous 

 botanists ; specimens of the rocks, minerals, and fossils found in the 

 different strata of the respective counties, would be obtained by per- 

 sons devoted to geological pursuits ; coins and antiquities, which 

 are now too frequently mutilated or destroyed by ignorant work- 

 men, not having any incentive to their preservation, would be care- 

 fully deposited with the curator of a museum, for a trifling remu- 

 neration ; works on every branch of science, scattered far and wide, 

 would be presented by liberal donors, and thus being brought into one 



