IV PREFACE. 



In the year 1802, Elements of Natural History, in 2 vols. 8vo, 

 was published, without any author's name ; but the part al- 

 lotted to Conchology is too short to afford much of the infor- 

 mation that is desired : perhaps the list that is given of the 

 books which treat particularly of this branch of Natural 

 History, and the explanation of the terms used in Testaceo- 

 logy, will be found to be the most useful parts to beginners. 



As the present Work is intended chiefly for English readers, 

 Latin words have been avoided as much as possible ; and a 

 Glossary of those Latin terms that frequently occur in works 

 on this subject is added (though many of the terms are more 

 fully explained in the work itself), as they are so much more 

 readily found when arranged alphabetically. 



That eminent naturalist M. Lamarck having given to the 

 public a ncAv system, or at least a new modelling of the 

 Linna?an, it became fiill as necessary to take notice of it, 

 as of the Linnaean system itself In the Systeme des Ani- 

 maux sans Vertehres, the number of genera comprised in the 

 class Mollusca is 158, of which 20 are naked, and the remain- 

 ing 138 are covered with shells : but there are several other 

 genera which M. Lamarck has formed or adopted, and which 



