Historical Account of Testaceological J Writers. 129 



with figures of any species, nor arc his descriptions on tlus sub- 

 ject at all full, except where he treats of pearls. 



About twenty years after the publication of the Museum Calce- 

 olarium there appeared a performance of a similar nature in the 

 " Gazoplnjlacium Rerum Naturaliuni" of 



MICHAEL RUPERT BESLER 



(the brother of Basil), whose plates were in the first edition twen- 

 ty-four in number, representing, "among other subjects, a few 

 figures of shells, some of which, however, are formed artificially 

 into ridiculous similitudes of human heads, &c. There is a con- 

 cise description in Latin under the respective figures. In the 

 second edition, the number of plates was augmented to thirty- 

 five, with a German preface ; but in this, as in the former publi- 

 cation, the majority of the subjects relate to artificial curiosities. 

 Nothing can be more incommodious than the size of the book, 

 which is almost twice as large as that of the copper-plates. 

 The museum of 



WORMIUS 



contained many species of Testacca: but the author vouchsafed 

 figures of none of them, except Lepas anatifcra ; and this was one 

 that might well have been spared, being copied from Marcgrave's 

 Nat. Hist. Brasilia, which is referred to by Linnaeus for that spe- 

 cies. Connected with it we have the whole of the ridiculous story, 

 so generally received by the credulous naturalists of that day, re- 

 specting the Barnacle Goose. Chapters 6', 7, and 8 of the " Mu- 

 seum Iformianum" relate entirely to shells, divided, according to 

 the Aristotelian classification, into Univalvia, Bivalvia, and Tur- 

 liinata. 



The volume of which we have been speaking was preceded by 

 the synoptic catalogue of SEC ER, printed at Copenhagen in 1633. 



vol. vii. s An 



