PREFACE. 



anticipated, I revised my notes, compared my descrip- 

 tions with those of others, and my specimens with similar 

 objects procured from various parts of Britain, recom- 

 posed the whole, and succeeded in finding a person 

 willing to undertake, chiefly from patriotic motives, the 

 publication of a work of no consideration in a pecuniary 

 point of view. 



The labour required for such an investigation cannot 

 be at all appreciated by those who have not directed their 

 energies toward such an object. The rocky coasts and 

 sandy beaches of the sea, the valleys and hills of the 

 interior, the pastures, mossy banks, thickets, woods, 

 rocks, ruins, walls, ditches, pools, canals, rills, and rivers, 

 were all to be assiduously searched. No collections of 

 Mollusca made in the district were known to me, nor do 

 any of our libraries contain the works necessary to be 

 consulted, although that of King's College supplies some 

 of great value. In a situation so remote from the great 

 centres of civilization, the solution of doubts is often 

 difficult of attainment, and there is always a risk of 

 describing as new what may already have been entered into 

 the long catalogue of known objects. But the pleasure of 

 continually adding to one's knowledge, the sympathy of 

 friends, the invigorating influence of the many ramblings 

 required, the delight of aiding others in the same pur- 

 suits, and many other circumstances, amply suffice to 

 carry one through greater difficulties than those alluded 

 to, even should the sneers of the ignorantly-wise, or the 

 frowns of the pompously-grave, be directed toward the 

 unconscious wight, who, immersed in mud, gropes with 

 the keenness of a money-gatherer, for the to them insig- 

 nificant objects, which have exercised the wisdom and 

 providence of the glorious Creator. 



Through life I have ever met with kind friends. On 

 the present occasion, I have been most efficiently aided 

 by them. With a zeal and energy, worthy of all praise 

 and gratitude, Mr. Alexander Murray, of Nethermill, 

 Cruden, an enlightened and sincere lover of nature, has 

 collected for me whatever he could find in the district of 



