iv PREFACE. 



great attention has been paid to the Synonymy. The pre- 

 sent small production can by no means interfere with the 

 larger work, it being confined to the names only, and not 

 extending to the descriptions of shells. 



That the purpose of this volume might not be defeated 

 by too great an extension, the references to each shell have 

 been limited to a few of the principal authors, whose 

 figures have an established character for accuracy. 



The figures in the conchological division of the Ency- 

 clopedic Methodique have for the most part been referred 

 to their respective species, since, owing to the death of 

 M. Bruguiere, the plates, except the last eighty, have 

 been published without any explanation or means of di- 

 stinguishing one figure from the other. It is somewhat 

 remarkable that in the work, (which as far as relates to 

 the figures of shells is now concluded,) no notice whatever 

 has been taken either of the genus Argonaut a, or Patella. 

 Lamarck, in a printed prospectus to the eighty-fourth Li- 

 vraison, says, " Le volume de planches qui fait partie de 

 cette livraison, termine ce qu'il restoit d'essentiel a publier 

 sur les mollusques, et particultirement sur les different 

 genres decoquilles qui appartiennent aux animaux de cette 



