4 THE ECONOMIC MOLLUSCA OF ACADIA. 



It is particularly appropriate that papers of this character 

 should be presented to such a society as ours. The highest 

 function of a local Society of Natural History must be 

 admitted to be the patronage and encouragement of local 

 Natural History in its practical and educational, as well as 

 scientific aspects. In this it has a claim for support and for 

 sympathy upon government and people, which greater pre- 

 tensions would not warrant. 



The most valuable to man by far, of all the groups of 

 Invertebrates, is that of the Mollusca. In all ages, in all 

 parts of the world, savage and civilized men have utilized its 

 members. The ancient refuse heaps of Europe show how old 

 is the use of Molluscs as food; ethnologists have shown how 

 wide-spread and old has been the use of shells for ornament, 

 for money and for utensils of war and the home; and in more 

 modern times, there have been found various other uses 

 dependent upon the more numerous wants of advancing 

 civilization. Unlike some other groups of animals, then, the 

 Mollusca have been much observed by practical as well as 

 scientific men; as in the useful plants, so among these, the 

 useful forms are known to everybody. 



Remembering these facts, we are not surprised to find, in 

 works dealing with the exploration and early history of these 

 provinces, that the edible Molluscs were the first Invertebrates 

 to be noticed, excepting possibly some of the annoying Insects. 



Jacques Cartier, the first explorer of the coast of Acadia 

 who paid any attention to the animals and plants of the places 

 he visited, does not mention any Invertebrates. It is not 

 until we come to the works of Champlain and Lescarbot that 

 we find references to the subject. Champlain's work, "Les 

 Voyages du Sieur de Champlain," (Paris, 1613), records the 

 earliest observations on the Mollusca of this region, but 



