132 Dr. Maton's and Mr. Rackett's 



tioned class, the distinctions of Concha; aspcrcB and hcvcs occa- 

 sioning the disunion of several obvious natural genera. The 

 " Onomasticon Zoiciim" certainly deserves respectful mention, 

 inasmuch as it was the earliest production of the kind that was 

 published in England. The author, who was a ph3'sician of con- 

 siderable learning and celebrity, had before distinguished him- 

 self in the science of natural histor}" by his " Exercitationes cle 

 Differentiis et NominibiisAnimalium," published at Oxford in 1677- 



STENO 



cannot, with propriety, occupy a place in our historical account 

 of Testaceological writers on any other ground than that of hav- 

 ing been the author of several curious remarks on the mode of for- 

 mation of shells. These remarks occur in a Avork, the title of 

 which certainly does not indicate any connexion with them, viz. 

 " De Solido intra Solidum naturaliter contento Dissertationis Pro- 

 dromus." It is (properly speaking) a treatise on crystallography, 

 but contains some pages on the subject of shells that are highly 

 deserving of attention, as they form the earliest attempt to ex- 

 plain in a scientific manner the fabric and texture of testaceous 



bodies. 



BOYLE, 



our celebrated countryman, is not undeserving of mention here, 

 having made experiments on the phaenomena of shell-fish (parti- 

 cularly of the Ostrea edtilis) under an exhausted receiver ; which 

 experiments are described in the PhilosopJiical Transactions (vol. 5. 

 p. 2023.) of the year I67O. It is but right to regard whatever 

 elucidates the nature, even of a solitary individual, of the testa- 

 ceous tribe, as subservient to the accuracy of systematical arrange- 

 ment; and we shall, therefore, not omit to point out in the course 



of 



