Historical AccouiU ofTestaceological Writers. 203 



LIGHTFOOT 

 (well known from his Flora Scotica) was author of a description of 

 five species of Testacea, either wholl}' unknown to, or not duly 

 noticed by, any of his predecessors. This gentleman was deser- 

 vedly considered as one of the most able Linnean scholars of his 

 time, and, from his constant opportunities of access to the Port- 

 land museum, had rendered himself particularly conversant in 

 conchology; a circumstance sufficiently evinced in the paper of 

 which we have been speaking, and which appears in the 76th 

 volume of the Philosophical Transactions. The figures, also, ac- 

 companying the paper are very correctly drawn. 

 In the year 1784 



MARTYN, 



a dealer, began one of the most beautiful and costly conchologi- 

 cal works this country has ever seen. It bears the title of the 

 Universal Conchologist, and was intended to exhibit a figure of 

 every known shell, draAvn and painted after nature. The author 

 began Avith the non-descript species collected in the different 

 voyages to the South Seas after the year 1764. His work is pre- 

 faced Avith general remarks, in French and English, an account of 

 the more remarkable cabinets of shells existing in Great Britain, 

 and some observations relative to Testaceological Avriters. It con- 

 tains also explicatory tables, exhibiting the name of each shell, 

 accordino- to the author's system, the name it bears in the Lin- 

 nean, the degree of rarity, the habitat, and the collection in which 

 it Avas found. But, before this ingenious artist had completed his 

 tAvo volumes of South Sea shells, he discovered the impossibihty 

 of procuring purchasers suflScient to compensate him for his 

 labour and expense,— a misfortune generally experienced by pri- 

 vate individuals Avho embark in such extensive and sumptuous 

 imdertakings. He, therefore, did not proceed beyond I60 plates ; 



2 D 2 Avhich, 



