MOLLUSCA. 229 
Lelius and Scipio to the present time ; and it is to their 
exertions as collectors, that the science is principally in- 
debted for its present state of improvement. The colours 
of shells are often so intensely vivid, so finely disposed, and 
so fancifully variegated, that, as objects of beauty they rival 
many of the esteemed productions of the vegetable king- 
dom. In their forms they likewise exhibit an infinite va- 
riety. While some consist merely of a hollow cup or a sim- 
ple tube, others exhibit the most graceful convolutions, and 
appear in the form of cones, and spires, and turbans ; and 
in another division, shaped like a box, all the varieties of 
hinge are exhibited, from that of simple connexion by a 
ligament to the most complicated articulation. The forms 
of shells are indeed so various, and many of them so ele- 
gant, that a celebrated French conchologist warmly recom- 
mends them to the attentive study of the architect. ‘“ Or,” 
says Lamark, “comme l’extréme diversite des parties pro- 
tubérantes de la surface de ces coquilles, ainsi que la régu- 
larité et Vélégance de leur distribution, ne laisse presque 
aucune forme possible dont la nature n’offre ici des exam- 
ples; on peut dire que architecture trouvéroit dans les 
espéces de ce genre (Cérithium) de méme que dans celles 
des pleurotomes et des fuseaux, un choix de modéles pour 
Yornement des colonnes, et que ces modéles seroient trés 
dignes d’étre employés.” (Annales du Mus. vol. iii. p. 269.) 
In this country, however; no such recommendation is ne- 
cessary, as many of our beautiful ornaments of stucco, par- 
ticularly for chimney-pieces, are copied from the univalve 
testacea, and are greatly admired. 
But shells, even with all their beauty and elegance, would 
never have acquired so much importance in the eyes of 
amateurs, had their forms been as difficult to preserve as 
