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VII. Description of several Marine Animals found on the South 

 Coast of Devonshire. By George Montagu, Esq. F.L.S. 



Read December 7, 1802. 



-t\.s a partial residence for some years on the coast of South 

 Devon, has given me an opportunity of more immediately turn- 

 ing my thoughts on the animal productions of the sea, so my re- 

 searches, in this confined coast of that unbounded and immeasu- 

 rable tract, have convinced me how little is yet known of the 

 hidden treasures of the deep. 



In pursuit of my first object, that of making myself acquainted 

 with all the British Testacca and their animal inhabitants, as far 

 as possible, I soon discovered that much remained to be done in 

 that branch of natural history ; having with diligent search and 

 indefatigable attention added nearly double the number of species 

 to those already given by any author, as indigenous to our coasts. 



In the different modes which were adopted to obtain these ob- 

 jects, and that mostly under my own eye, it was not possible to 

 examine the mass of matter which was occasionally forced from 

 the bottom of the ocean, without having the attention diverted by 

 the singularity and beauty of the wonderful variety with which 

 that element is replete ; and I soon discovered that in the Crus- 

 tacea and Mollusca, as well as Testacea, the British Fauna, and, 

 perhaps, natural history in general, especially with respect to the 

 smaller marine animals, are far from being arrived at maturity. 



Amongst the former, the genus Cancer seems to be much more 

 numerous in its species than has been generally imagined : and 



while 



