196 INTRODUCTIONS- TO CONCHOLOGY. 



climes to cultivate the fruits and flowers of exotic regions. 

 But thou, peerless shell-fish, dost carry upon thy back a 

 globe of glass, to cover the complex organ with which thou 

 breathest, not formed by the art of man nor curious device, 

 but given by thy Creator, and pertaining to thee alone. 



FAMILIES or PLEUEOBEANCHS. 



Tokens, in truth, are these, 

 Whicli Ocean handeth forth from out its waters. 

 That men may further seai'ch, and searching find. 

 More wondrous subjects, worthy of deep thought. 



This order includes certain moUusks in which the bran- 

 chiae, or breathing organs, whether placed under the edge of 

 the mantle, as in the Cyclohranchiata, or in a particular 

 cavity, as in most of the CervicoLrancJdata, are uniformly 

 on the right side. A natural group of mollusks is thus 

 brought together, allied, moreover, by other, and, perhaps, 

 more important affinities ; — creatures of strange forms and 

 instincts, inhabiting dissimilar localities, yet everywhere ex- 

 hibiting the wisdom and beneficence of their Creator. 



