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LAND AND FEESH WATEE SHELLS. 



[By the Rev. J. E. VizE.] 



I do not remember ever to have seen records in the Woolhojie CKili of any land 

 or fresh water shells. This is a little surprising if the facts are really such, that 

 we do not own any one given to this branch of science amongst oiir local members, 

 because we are so glad to hail any real student of any science as a welcome con- 

 tributor to the vast fund of knowledge which has already been gathered together. 

 It was my privilege some 3.5 years or more since to know some very good workers 

 amongst the Land, Fluviatile, and Lacustrine shells, and it was a great treat, 

 apart from severe study of another kind, to refresh my brain by walking along 

 the roads with a view to finding shells, and getting spare time to rejoice over 

 them with friends when collected. This principle is, I am sure, a right one for 

 those who have to work hard at anything. A valued and recently dead friend 

 once made a remark which, at the time, struck me forcibly, and the correctness of 

 which is full of sound sense. He said, " I would not on any consideration have 

 a doctor to attend me, who had not some hobby besides his practice, by means of 

 which he might vary the ideas of his mind, and so intensify his thoughts for his 

 regular practice. " We all of us want something over and above our daily routine 

 to invigorate us for general duties. I worked at shells with a hearty good will 

 many years ago, and although they are decidedly difficult to find where I live 

 now, yet the old fondness for them is inherent, and when I was asked to write a 

 paper for our Club, it occurred to me that a few words might turn the thoughts 

 of our members to the subject of shells, and so perhaps a list of local shells may 

 by-and-bye be forthcoming from someone in Herefordshire. We speak of shells. 

 A shell literally and truly means a hard covering, and in that sense is apjilied to 

 the MoUusca, which you know is the term given to a very large class of creatures 

 in the animal kingdom. The study of these hard coverings is called the study of 

 Conchology, which is a totally different thing from the study of the animals living 

 in the shells. The one is Conchology, the other is Malachology. iMalachology 

 we consider only in a slight degree. It is very interesting to examine it, however. 

 The component jjarts of the body are instructive. These creatures are singular, 

 because they carry their stomachs in their feet. Their blood is white with some 

 green fluid in it. Their mantle is the skin, which is porous and glandular. Their 

 flesh is soft, hence they are called Mollusca, from mollis, soft. 



The study of Conchology has undergone a change from former times. 

 Shells used to be classified from the form of the shell itself. Later arrangements 

 take not the form of the shell only, but the creatures themselves as well. 



It is a difficult thing to preserve the fleshy portion attached to the shells, 

 hence it is rare to see more than the shell itself in collections. The shells, more- 

 over, vary very much, and follow very considerably the shajie of the creatures 

 which inhabit them. Peojjle like to see the shells much more than they like 

 the animals themselves. They are, when alive, e(msidered to bo unpleasant 



