l62 Dr. M axon's and Mr. Rackett's 



ture of the tacts of Avhicli they treat, it cannot be supposed that 



they contain much orioinal matter, ' those species of Testacea 



having been amply described before. 



The " Catalogue raiaonne" published by a dealer at Paris of 



the name of 



GERSAINT 



would scarcely deserve mention here, were it not prefaced by 

 some general observations on shells, an account of the princijial 

 cabinets then existing in France and Holland, and a list of such 

 authors and their works as are most worthy of being consulted : 

 these particulars are interesting to collectors, and render the book 

 useful for reference; though it is very defective in the enumera- 

 tion of testaceological writers, and is more suited to the lover of 

 mere curiosities than to the man of science. 



'•=t)'UHAMEL, 



the well-known French botanist, ought to be mentioned among 

 our authors, having published some experiments on the colouring 

 matter furnished by the Piirpina, with remarks on the species 

 itself. These are inserted in the Mem. de I' Acad. Royalt des Sciences 

 for 1736. Duliamel considers the purple fish of the antients as a 

 species of Murex ; whereas his countryman Reaumur supposed 

 it to be the Buccinum Lapillus of Linnaeus. 

 It will be proper to place here 



SAVAMMERDAM; 



since it was in 1737 that his Bib/ia Natune first appeared, a work 

 containino' many valuable anatomical remarks on testaceous as 

 Avell as other animals, which are illustrated by figures. From 

 the catalogue of this great physiologist's museum, published in 

 1679, it appears that he was an indefatigable collector of most 

 • kinds 



