History of Conchology in the United States. 15 



6. American Conchology ; or " Descriptions of the Shells of North 

 America." Issued in 6 numbers, 8vo, with sixty colored plates. New 

 Harmony, Ind., 1830-4. A 7th (posthumous) number has been pub- 

 lished by Mrs. Say. 



The " American Conchology" contains a large number of our 

 common Mollusca, of which very many are either nowhere else 

 figured, or only in expensive monographs. The descriptions 

 are very full and accurate, and the plates characteristic, though 

 not well finished. 



In the above publications Mr. Say has introduced one hun- 

 dred marine, one hundred fluviatile, and seventy-five terrestrial 

 species. A large number of types of these, labelled by the 

 author, are preserved in the Collection of the Academy of Nat. 

 Sciences at Philadelphia. 



The demand for the " American Conchology," and other pa- 

 pers long out of print, had become so great, as to induce, in 

 1858, their republication, with colored plates, as the " Complete 

 writings of Thomas Say, on the" Conchology of the United 

 States." This work is ably edited by Wm, G. Binney, who has 

 revised the nomenclature of the genera and species, and added 

 many valuable notes. 



C. S. Rafinesqtje, added to his other attainments in Natu- 

 ral Science, a considerable knowledge of Conchology ; and he 

 pursued its study with great ardor after his arrival in this coun- 

 try. Unfortunately, his earlier descriptions are too short and 

 indefinite, and nearly all of his figures are too rude, for satisfac- 

 tory recognition; later, his love of fame and insatiable species- 

 mongry induced him to mingle these with descriptions of objects 

 which never existed ; and finally, we are compelled to believe, 

 that he put full confidence himself in the existence of these im- 

 aginary objects, as the dark cloud settled on his mind, which 

 made him in fact a mad naturalist. During this period Eafin- 

 esque frequently redescribed his own species under different 

 names, and ignored entirely the works of other American natu- 

 ralists, appropriating their species with an audacity which can 

 only be excused by charitably conceding his mental aberration. 



Under these perplexing circumstances, most of our Conchol- 

 ogists, after vainly endeavoring to identify his descriptions, have 

 discarded them almost entirely. The following are Mr. Rafin- 

 esque's principal publications, referring to our Mollusca : 



" Discoveries in Natural History made during a Journey through the 

 Western Region of the United States." Published in the American 

 Monthly Magazine and Critical Review, vols, iii and iv. New York, 

 1818-19. 



" Prodrome de 70 nouveaux Genres d'Animaux d'Amerique, durani 

 l'Aunee, 1818." In the Journal de Physique, Paris, Juin, 1819. 



