14 History of Conchology in the United States. 



must in itself have proved a great inducement to commence the 

 study of Conchology ; in which even at the present time, there 

 is vastly more yet to be elucidated in the United States than in 

 Europe. 



C. A. Le Sueur, a native of France, who resided for some 

 years in Philadelphia, where he published numerous papers on 

 Ichthyology and other branches of Natural Science, is the author 

 of the first article on Mollusca published in America. Mr. 

 Le Sueur's paper, which was printed in the first number of the 

 Journal of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 

 (May, 1817), is entitled "Description of six new species of Firola, 

 observed in the Mediterranean Sea by Messrs. Le Sueur and Pe- 

 ron in the months of March and April, 1809." It is illustrated. 

 Mr. Le Sueur followed this at short intervals, with descriptions 

 of various new species of Cephalopoda and Pteropoda, all in the 

 same Journal. 



Thomas Say. In the same number of the Journal of the 

 Academy which contains Le Sueur's first paper, and of equal 

 date with it, is the first conchological paper by Say, the greatest 

 of our earlier naturalists — a man who, without the advantage of 

 a liberal education or the means which have since been brought 

 into the study of natural history, made for himself an undying 

 reputation in almost every branch. With a quick eye for distin- 

 guishing differences, and a remarkably sound judgment of their 

 proper values, most of his descriptions are models of accuracy 

 combined with brevity. Very few of his species have been set 

 aside. Mr. Say had also the merit of appending to most of his 

 descriptions of species, their prominent distinctive characters 

 from nearly allied forms — a very important part of a natural 

 history description, too generally neglected. Mr. Say's principal 

 writings on Conchology consist of — 



1. Ten articles in the Journal of the Academy of Nat. Sciences, vols, 

 i, ii, iv, and v, (1817-1826) describing a very large proportion of the 

 marine shells of our Atlantic coast, a majority of the Helices of the Mid- 

 dle States, together with many from the South and West, and many fresh 

 water species. 



2. Article " Conchology" in Nicholson's Encyclopedia, Amerjcan edi- 

 tions. Published also separately, with the title " Descriptions of the land 

 and fresh water shells of the United States." Philadelphia, 1818. 



3. Numerous descriptions of terrestrial and fluviatile shells in the 

 u Disseminator," a weekly paper published at New Harmony, Ind., (1829- 

 1831). These were subsequently issued in pamphlet. New Harmony, 

 Ind. pp. 26. 1841. 



4. A short paper in the Transylvania Journal of Medicine. Lexing- 

 ton, Ky., 1832, (included in the last named pamphlet). 



5. An Appendix to the Narrative of Long's Expedition to Lake Win- 

 nepeg, containing descriptions of Mollusca, &c. ; published in 1824. 



