4 PREFACE. 



will continue to form, the subject of chief interest whether 

 with regard to the school or the cabinet. There is no good 

 reason why a book upon Conclwlogy (using the com- 

 mon term) may not be malacological as far as it pro- 

 ceeds. 



In this view of the subject the present little work is 

 offered to the public. Beyond the ruling feature — that 

 of giving an anatomical account of each animal, together 

 with a description of the shell which it inhabits, the 

 Author has aimed at little more than accuracy and sim- 

 plicity, as far as the latter quality can be thought 

 consistent with the rigid exactions of science. 



No attention has been given to the mere History of 

 our subject; it is conceived that any disquisition on 

 this head would more properly appertain to works of 

 ultimate research, than to one whose sole intention is to 

 make the pupil acquainted, in as tangible a form as 

 possible, with results. To afford, at a cheap rate, a 

 concise, yet sufficiently comprehensive, and especially 

 a well illustrated school-book, has been the principal 

 <lesign. 



In conclusion, the author has only to acknowledge 

 his great indebtedness to the valuable public labors, as 

 well as private assistance of Mr. Isaac Lea, of Phila- 

 delphia. To Mr. Thom.as Wyatt, and his late excellent 

 Manual of Conclwlogy, he is also under many obliga- 

 tions. No better work, perhaps, could be put into 

 the hands of the student as a secondary text-book. Its 

 beautiful and perfectly well-coloured illustrations afford 

 an aid in the collection of a cabinet scarcely to be met 

 with elsewhere. 



E. A. P. 



