RISE AND TROGRESS OF ZOOLOGY. 79 



and as supplying those details which were not con- 

 sistent with the conciseness of the Linnaean plan. 



(34-.) The name of Adanson* is recorded both in 

 botany and zoology ; not so much for the value of 

 his works, as from his being among the first of those, 

 who, like our countryman Lister, endeavoured to 

 arrange shells with some regard to the structure of 

 their animals. His love for natural history carried 

 him to the coast of Senegal, the shells of which he 

 has described, and tolerably well figured, in a sepa- 

 rate volume, still of great value to the conchologist. 

 We may here observe, that Adanson, like his master 

 BufFon, was a declared enemy to the regularity and 

 system which governed the Linnaean nomenclature ; 

 and that our author (proceeding on the plan of this 

 school) calls his shells by Negro-French names. 

 Thus, on the Voluta Cymbum of Linnaeus, he be- 

 stows the name of Yet ; the Voluta Cymbiola is to 

 be PJwlan; and the Marginella lineata is called a 

 JBobi ! There is, in short, no end of such names as 

 Lupon, Bitou, Salar, Mafau, (we take them at ran- 

 dom,) Minjac, Sakem, Sadot, Pakel, and innume- 

 rable others. This is the jargon which Buffon, 

 influenced by his regard for elegance of diction and 

 of phraseology, strove to substitute for the classic 

 and expressive nomenclature of Linnaeus ! One is 

 really surprised, in these days, to contemplate such 

 folly, as proceeding from reasonable beings ; did not 

 prejudices equally great, but often far more hurtful, 

 meet us at every step in our journey through life. 



* M. Adanson. Histoire Naturelle des Coquillages du 

 Senegal. Paris, 1757. 1 vol. 4to. 



