166 • 



CHAPTEE XXVIII. 



A LONG LIST OF LITTLE SHELLS, AVITH INFINITESIMAL DISTINCTIONS. — 

 SPECIES or ACLIS, STYLIEER, EULIMA, CHEMNITZIA, ODOSTOMIA, EULI- 

 MELLA, TRUNCATELLA, AND OTINA. 



PYBAMIDELLIDJE. 



This family contains a swarm of little mollusca, which, 

 however well they might repay a minute examination by 

 those who can obtain an intimate knowledge of them, cer- 

 tainly present no great attractions to the general student. 

 Many of these shells are exquisitely sculptured, but the 

 species are so difficult to distinguish from each other, that 

 the strongest impression remaining on the writer's mind 

 about them, after being engaged in their delineation for 

 the work of Messrs. Forbes and Hanley, was that of relief 

 at having arrived at the end of the tedious list. While, 

 in some instances, the unhappy artist was blamed for not 

 making clear to the eye the difference between one of these 



