INTRODUCTION. 1 1 



known to have no other sustenance, for weeks together, 

 but the produce of the sea ; and shell-fish fill no unim- 

 portant station in the immense catalogue of its inhabi- 

 tants. 



The nutritive and delicious food afforded by oysters, 

 scallops, muscles, and cockles, is too well known to require 

 any remark. 



In many countries which do not produce limestone, as 

 the coast of Brazil, &c., shells are collected in great quan- 

 tities, and, after calcination, form a most desirable substi- 

 tute for that useful substance : in this state they are also 

 considered excellent as manure. 



The Indians frequently convert shells into domestic and 

 defensive implements; the South-sea islanders, for ex- 

 ample, head their javelins with them, and manufacture 

 them into fish hooks and various sorts of tools. Their 

 principal ornaments are often studded or embossed with 

 rows and groups of shells, artfully disposed, in regular or- 

 der, which are worn as marks of superiority, or as brace- 

 lets or armlets, and frequently form handsome appenda- 

 ges for the ears. A very extensive commerce is carried 

 on in Ceylon with the shank shell, (Murex rapa), which is 

 in great request for ornamental purposes. 



The Chinese convert shells, that are opalescent when 

 uncoated, into various articles of domestic economy, such 

 as drinking cups, ewers, &c. ; and the Indian cabinets, so 

 much admired for their beauty and exquisite workmanhip, 

 are principally composed of iridescent shells, judiciously in- 

 laid and blended with tortoise-shell and other substances. 



Some species of the oyster and muscle genera are ce- 

 lebrated for the production of pearls, the value and beauty 

 of which can perhaps be best estimated by those who are 

 in the habit of purchasing and wearing them. 



There is one large species of Murex, called M. tritonis, 



