Historical Account of Testaceological Writers. 207 



fortunately for natural history and his nation, he was cut off by a 

 premature death, just after he had completed the 1st volume 

 (which does not go beyond the letter C) of the article Vers. In 

 the preface to this article we are presented with the method of 

 arrangement which he intended to have pursued, and which is 

 obviously founded on that of Linnaeus : in fact, the author pro- 

 fesses to deviate from it no further than he conceives himself to 

 be required by the discoveries subsequent to the publication of 

 the Systema. The number of genera, however, in the French zoo- 

 logist's order of Testacea is nearly double that of Linnaeus's, being 

 sixty-one instead of thirty-six. Only two livraisons of plates con- 

 taining shells have hitherto come to our hands; but such is the 

 originality of the figures, and the excellence of their execution, 

 that, incomplete as they are with respect to the letter-press, they 

 form by themselves a very valuable work to be referred to by 

 other authors. — There occur some interesting papers relative to 

 Testacea by M. Bruguiere in the Journal d'Hist. Nat. (of which 

 that gentleman was a principal conductor) ; in one of these he has 

 treated, at considerable length, of the formation and growth of 

 the Porcellanea, adducing a variety of new and curious facts on 

 that subject. 



The " Naturalist's Miscellany" of our countryman 



DR. SHAW 



is too well known to require any detailed mention in this paper; 

 and, even if it had not been inconsistent with our plan to have 

 discussed the merits of contemporary English authors, we could 

 not, with propriety, enter upon an analysis of a work which is 

 not yet completed. We shall, therefore, content ourselves with 

 pointing out its place in the general history of Testaceology. 



• The 



