THE 
NATURAL HISTORY 
BRITISH SHELLS. 
INTRODUCTION. 
VERMES. 
Tus class of Animals was formerly confounded with Insects and 
Plants: the Zntestina and Mollusca were referred to the first class: 
the Zoophyta and Lithophyta to the latter ; and some Authors had 
even classed the ¢estacea, or Shells, as a branch of Mineralogy, with- 
out regarding the Animals inhabiting them. Linnzus, in the Systema 
Nature, comprehends the whole of these creatures in the last class 
of Zoology ; and forms their classical character from their internal 
structure, as in larger gnd more perfect animals: Cor uniloculare, 
inauritum ; Sanie frigida, albida. Tentaculatis Vermzbus. Heart fur- 
nished with one ventricle, without auricle ; sanzes cold and whitish, 
or colourless. The five orders of the Linnzan class Vermes are 
thus defined :— 
VOL. I, B 
