l'2'2 Dr. M axon's and Mi'. Rackktt's 



in those ages Avas very confined ; many of the mere appendage* 

 of testaceous animals, such as operciila and detached valves, were 

 mistaken for distinct species ; and a variety of families were con- 

 stituted on the most absurd principles. Yet, with all thes« 

 defects, Testaceology experienced no improvement from the great 

 Roman naturalist 



PLINY, O ^ 



who is chargeable with a greater fault than that of having left 

 no better an arrangement than he found, for he seems scarcely 

 to have adopted any arrangement at all. In the 9th book of his 

 Natural liistori/ he gives a pretty diffuse description of Testa- 

 ceous animals, but in a very vague and unmethodical manner. In 

 Pliny's time the Romans must have had considerable opportuni- 

 ties of increasing their knowledge of shells, for their navigation 

 had been much extended; and with respect to the Mediterra- 

 nean in particular, their augmented acquaintance with its coasts 

 must have been the means of importing into the capital of the 

 world a great variety of new species. The manner in which this 

 dilio-ent naturalist alludes to the diversified form, colour, and 

 mao-nitude of these beautiful objects, sufficiently shows that he 

 had viewed no small number, and that he found in them ample 

 sources of interest and admiration. 



Itouoht to be remarked, that there are commentators who have 

 bestowed particular attention on that part of Pliny's Avorks of 

 which we have been treating, and whom the curious scholar may 

 do well to consult. Among these L. Gronovius, Franciscus Mas- 

 sarius*, and Klein, deserve respectful mention. There are aJso 

 some annotations in the Leipsic Commentaries for 1773f, illustra- 

 tive of the Roman naturalist's terminology. 



* Basil, 1537, 4to. t Fischer, p. 487. 



iELIAN 



