10 The Williams Collection of Shells 



have taken a keen interest in offerine; her their choicest 

 and most beautiful materials; so that the collection 

 is a growing monument of patient industry, discrimin- 

 ating taste, rare judgment, and favorable opportunity. 

 At the present moment (November, 1907) this collec- 

 tion contains twenty-six thousand shells, a number un- 

 exceeded I believe by any private shell cabinet in 

 America since the days of John Jay. Among these 

 specimens there are none which could be spared to 

 advantage; each is individual and each is superlatively 

 good. 



It is said that every enthusiastic collector has a 

 favorite group or genus, — a "hobby." One looks in 

 vain for the outward sign of Mrs. Williams' hobby. 

 Every family, every genus, seems to merit that dis- 

 tinction as its wealth of representation is realized. 

 The rarest obtainable in every family are here. Yet 

 there is a first love, that queen of molluscan families, 

 the Cypraeidae, although no unwise partiality is 

 displayed. 



The rarest shells in the collection, the delectae 

 delectarum, what are they? Shall we name Spondylus 

 regius, Conus gloria-maris, or Pleurotomaria beyrichii? 

 What of Strombus thersites, Cancellaria cooperi, Argo- 

 nauta gruneri, Rostellaria powisi and Cypraea bro- 

 deripi? The choicest treasures of many another collec- 

 tion, the Cypraea aurantia's, the rarest Volutas, and 

 their like, take second place and are often represented 

 by several specimens, all different. Many specimens 



