NO. 1425. THOMAS MARTYN— BALL. 423 



II. Obverse, Carolvs IIII, Rex Catholievs; reverse, Regnorvm 

 reoiinine svscepto. Matriti. XVI. Kal. Febrvarias. MDCCL 

 XXXVIIII. 



The leg-end to this plate is the same as to the last, except the date, 

 which is 1792. 



Two eng-raved explanatory tables. Bastard title: | The | Universal 

 Conchologist | | Le | Conchyliologiste Universel. | 



P. [2J. Introduction [in English, reproduced in French on opposite 

 page, ending page 23, page 24 blank]; page 25, subtitle, "Preface;" 

 p. 26 the preface begins as before, English and French, continuing to 

 page 35. Page 30 begins with testimonial letter from Baron von 

 Born, dated Aug. 18, 1787, announcing the receipt of the work and 

 the dispatch of the medal; page 38 continues the reprint of letters, 

 that of June 15th, 1788, acknowledging the receipt of volume second 

 of the shells and proof sheets of the English entomologist; on the 

 opposite pages the text is reproduced in French; page 40 is blank; 

 then follow^ plates 1 to 80, the plates illustrating one species each and 

 headed tig. 1, etc., instead of plate 1, etc. The two views usually 

 given of each shell are not separately numbered or lettered; the work 

 is delicate etching on copper, colored by hand in the most perfect 

 manner. There is no legend to any of the plates. 



The total sums up 81 colored plates, two plates of medals, 1 engraved 

 title page and two engraved explanatory tal)les, with 38 pages of 

 printed text in English and French, plus two blank pages. The col- 

 lection is in an apparently contemporaneous binding of tree calf in 

 one volume, trimmed to 11 ])y 12|^ inches. 



I have gone into what may seem to be excessive detail in regard to 

 the plates of medals, because they have an important bearing on the 

 earliest date of issue of this rare work, as will shortly- appear. 



The copy above described appears to be practically identical with 

 copies in the library of the Academy of Natural Sciences at Philadel- 

 phia, and of the Zoological Museum at Berlin, the latter being the 

 subject of a paper by E. von Martens. 



I have, unfortunately, had no opportunity for consulting the origi- 

 nal of the volumes called III and IV by Martyn, and my knowledge 

 of them is confined to the information I have been able to derive from 

 Chenu's reprint and the literature. However, they are of less 

 importance than volumes I and II. In the absence of an explicit 

 statement from the author as to the date when copies of the first 80 

 plates were distributed, it becomes necessary to rely upon collateral 

 and circumstantial evidence on this point. 



We may begin by pointing out that the first and second forty plates 

 both contain illustrations of shells from the northwest coast of America, 

 chiefly King George's Sound, on the southwest side of Vancouver 

 Island, better known as Nootka Sound. The expedition of Cook, by 

 which these shells were f^ollected, was the first to collect or explore 



