CONCHOLOGY. 



;>9 



or argonauf, tlie slated miircx, and a great variety of 

 elegant fnails, vvitli foiiie of the dolia or tuns, and ueiits. 

 The '^(hintic lea, or gulf of Venice, is lefs furniflied with 

 fiielis than alinolt any of the feas thereabout. Mufcles 

 and oyllcrs of feveral fpecies sre however found there, 

 and fonie of the corditorra (hells; there are alfo Ibnie 

 telllnrC. About Ancona there are found vail numbers of 

 the pholades buiied in (tone; and the nures marina: are 

 pjrticularly frequent about Puzzoli. The ports of Mar- 

 feiiles, Toulon, and Antibes, are full of pinnx marina?, 

 mufcles, tellinas, and charaae. Tlie coalts of Bretagne 

 afford great numbers of the conchse Lujatifera: and acorns; 

 they are found on old rotten boards, on fea Ivibftances, 

 and among clutters of fpouges. The other ports of France," 

 as Rochelle, Dunkirk, Brelt, St. Maloes, and others, fur. 

 nifii oylfers excellent for the table, but of the common 

 kind, and of no beauty in their Iliells ; great numbers of 

 mufcles are alfo found there ; and the common telling, 

 the onion-peel oylters, the (olens, and conchas anatifera;, 

 are alfo frequent there. At Granville there are found 

 very beautiful peilens, and lome of the heart-fhaped fhells 

 cal led firaivhtrrles. 



Our own Englifli coafts are not the leaft fruitful in 

 fhells, though they do not produce Inch elegantly painted 

 ones as the Indies. About Plymouth are found oylters, 

 lliulcles, and folens, in great abundance ; and there, and 

 on molt of our other (hores, are numbers of the aures ma- 

 rinas and dentalia, with peftens, which are excellent food; 

 and many elegant fpecies of the chamas and tellinss are 

 filhed up in the lea about Si.aiDorough and other places. 

 Ireland affords us great numbcis of mufcles, and fonie 

 very eiegant ckallop (hslls in great abundance, and the 

 pholadjs are frequent on moll of our fliores. We have 

 alfo great varuty of the buccina and cochlese, lome vo- 

 lutas, and, on the Guernley coall, a peculiarly beautiful 

 fnail, called thence the Guernfey-j'nail. The coalts of 

 Spain and Portugal afford mugh the fame fpecies of fliells 

 •with the Ealt Indies, but they arc of much fainter colours, 

 and greatly inferior in beauty. There are, accordins to 

 Tavtrnier and others, (ome rivers in Bavaria in 'vhich 

 theie are found pearls of a fine water. About Cad z there 

 are found very large pinnx marinjc, and fonie fine luc- 

 cina. The ides of Majorca and Minorca aftonl a great 

 variety of extremely ekgant Ihells. The pinna? marinas 

 are alio very numerous there, and theii lilk or beards is 

 wrought into gloves, (lockings, and other things. The 

 Bailee affonls a gr:at many beautiful Ipecies, but pai ticu- 

 larly an orange-coloured pc6ten, or elcallop-lhell", which 

 is not found in any other part of the world. 



The frelh-water (hells are alfo found in great plenty ; 

 there is fcarctly a nond, a ditch, or a river of fredi water, 

 in any part of the world, in wnich there are not found vail 

 numbers of Ihells, with the fi(h living in them. All thefe 

 Iheils are iiuall, and they are of very little beauty, being 

 uliially of a plain greyi(h or brownilh colour. Our ditches 

 afford us chama;, buccina, neritse, and fome patellx ; but 

 the Nile, and lome other rivers, furnilhed the ancients 

 ■with a fpecies of tellina which was large and eatable, and 

 io much (uperior to the common lea tellina in flavour, 

 that it is commonly known by ihc name oi tellina regia, 

 " the royal teilina." We have a (inall Ipecies of buccinum 

 common in our freili waters, which is very elegant, and 

 alwais has its operculum in the manner of the larger 

 buccina ; a fmall kind of mufcle is alio very common, 

 which is fo extremely thin and tender, that it can hardly 

 be handled without breaking to pieces. The large fielh- 

 water mul'ce, commonly called in England the horje- 

 muj'ck, is t o well known to need a delcription ; and 

 the (ize lufficiently diltinguilhes at from all other frefh- 

 water fliells. 



Of fossil shells. 



FolTil fliells are found buried at great depths in the 

 earth. Of thele fome are found remaining almoll entirely 

 in their native ftate, but others are v.ariouily altered by 



being impregnated with particles of (Ions and of other 

 follilsj in the place of others there is found mere ftone 

 or fpar, or fome other native mineral body, expreiiing all 

 their lineaments in the moll exaift manner, as having been 

 formed wholly fiom them, the Ihell having been firlt de- 

 polited in fome folid matrix, and thence di'llblved by very 

 flow degrees, and this matter left in its place, on the ca- 

 vities of Hone and other folid fubllances, out of which 

 fhells had been dillbived and walTied away, being after- 

 wards filled up lels (lowly with thefe different fubitances, 

 whether fpar or v/hatever elfe; thefe lubilances, Co filling 

 the cavities, can nectffarily be of no other form than that 

 of the fliell, to the abfence of which the cavity was ow- 

 ing, though all the nicer lineaments may not be fo exafilly 

 exprelfed. Befides thefe, we have alio in many places 

 niafies of ftone formed within various (hells; and thefe 

 having been received into the cavities of the fliells while 

 they were perfec=tly fluid, and having therefore nicely filled 

 all their cavities, mull retain the perfeiSl figures of the in- 

 ternal part of the fliell, when the fliell itfeirihould be worn 

 away or perifiied from their outfide. The various fpecies 

 we find ot thefe are, in many genera, as numerous as the 

 known recent ones ; and as we have in our own ifland 

 not only the fliells of our own fliores, but thole of many 

 other very dillant ones, lb we have alio many fpecies, and 

 thole in great numbers, wdiich are in their recent ftate, 

 the inhabitants of other yet unknown or unfearched leas 

 and fliores. The cockles, mufcles, oyllers, and the other 

 common bivalves of our own leas, are very abundant : 

 but we have alio an amazing number of the nautilus 

 kind, particularly of the nautilus grscorum, which though 

 a fliell not found living in our own or any neighbouring 

 feas, yet is found buried in all our clay-pits about Lon- 

 don and ellewhere; and the iiiuft frequent of all follil 

 fliells in fome of our counties are the concha; anomias, 

 which yet we know not of in any part of the world in 

 their recent ftate. Of this fort alio are the cornua ani- 

 monis and the gryphita;, with feveral of the echinitx and 

 others. 



The exaft fiinilitude of the known fliells, recent and 

 foflll. in their feieral kinds, will by no means I'ufter us to 

 believe that thefe, though not yet known to us in their 

 living rtate, are, as fome have idly thought, a (brt of lu/us 

 iialura: It is certain, that of the many known fliores, 

 very few, not even thole of our own ifland, have been yet 

 carefully fcarched for the fliell-fifli that inhabit them ; 

 and as we lee in the nautilus gr.Tecorum an inll.ince of 

 fliells being brought from very dinant parts of the world 

 to be buried here, we cannot wonder that yet unknown 

 fliores, or the unknown bottoms of deep leas, fUould have 

 furnilhed us with many unknown fhell fiih, nhich may 

 have been brought with the relt; whether they were at 

 the time of the general deluge, or the effetl of any other 

 cataftrophe of a like kind, or by whatever other means, 

 to be left .in the yet tjnhardencd matter of our Honey and 

 cl.aj-ey Itrata. 



Or all the foflil fhells, the cornua ammonis, vulgarly 

 cMed fcr/>e/il-Jlo>ies, ov fnah fones, is decidedly the ,-iolt 

 elegant and curious. They are found of all fizes, as no- 

 ticed in p. 22 i Ibiiie of them rounded, oth-rs greatly 

 comprtllcd, and lodged in different Itrata of itones and 

 clays, even in the molt elevated fituations. Some of thele 

 fliells are fmooth, and otheis ridged in different direc- 

 tions; their llriEe and ridges being either ftraight, irre- 

 gularly crooked, or undulated. So tew of this family 

 liaving been yet found in their recent or living itate, 

 makes it leem wonderful whence fo valt a number and 

 variety of them fliould be brought into our lubterrancan 

 regions. They fcem indeed diiperfed in gieat plenty 

 throughout the world, but no where found in greater 

 numbers, beauty, and variety, than in oui ifl.iul. Mr. 

 Harenberg tbund prodigious numbers ot them on the 

 banks of a river in Germany. He traced this river through 

 its feveral windings for ni.iny nines; auu among a great 

 variety of belemiiitje, cochlttaf, &.'c. lie Ibuud more thaa 

 4- thirty 



