INTKODUCTION. Xlll 



These words are derived from tlie Latin, unus — one, hi — two, 

 niultus — many, and therefore it may at once be seen that tliey 

 apply to shells having one, two, or several pieces or divisions. 

 Valve comes from the Latin valva, and means a folding door, a 

 lid, a piece moving on a hinge, as the divisions in several of these 

 shells do. 



This order of arrangement is generally followed by those who 

 make a collection of shells for a cabinet; and to this we shall 

 adhere as at once the most simple and convenient, when we come 

 to describe the several species of testaceous mollusks. We will 

 now say a few words on 



TAKING AND PRESERVING SHELLS. 



A diligent searcher along any beach or coast line, will be sure 

 sometimes to light upon curious and valuable specimens, and 

 especially after violent storms may such be sought for, with the 

 greatest chance of success, for the agitation of the waters will 

 then have loosened them from their natural beds and dwelling- 

 places, and cast them on the shore. Very frequently, however, 

 they will be so beaten about and defaced, that they will be 

 comparatively valueless; if enveloped in tangled masses of sea- 

 weed, they are likely to be preserved from injury; and such heaps 

 of uprooted marine vegetation will often afford a rich harvest to 

 the young conchologist, who should always carefully examine them. 

 Many of the shells are so minute as scarcely to be seen with the 

 naked eye, therefore this search can scarcely be properly effected 

 without the assistance of a pocket lens, the cost of T^hich is but 

 trifling. The undersides of pieces of stranded timber, the bottoms 

 of boats lately returned from a fishing voyage, the fisherman's 

 dredge or net, the cable, and the deep-sea line; all these maj' 

 prove productive, and should be looked to whenever opportunity 

 offers; nor should the soarcli for land and fresh-water shells be 

 neglected, for many of these are very curious, as well as 

 beautiful, and no conchological collection is complete without them. 

 For these, the best hunting grounds are the ditch side and the 

 river bed. the mossy bank and the hedge-row; amid the twining, 

 serpent-like roots of the oM thorn and elder trees; the crevices 

 of the garden wall, the undersides of stones, and all sorts of out- 

 of-the-way holes, nooks, and corners, where may be found the 

 Striped Zebra, and other prettily-marked snail shells, and many 

 other kinds worthy of a place in — 



THE CABINET; 



which may be either large or small, plain or handsome, in accordance 



