OF SELBORNE. 11 



LETTER III. 



TO THE SAME. 



THE fossil shells of this district, and sorts of stone, 

 such as have fallen within my observation, must not be 

 passed over in silence. And first I must -mention, as a 

 great curiosity, a specimen that was ploughed up in the 

 chalky fields, near the side of the Down, and given to 

 me for the singularity of its appearance, which, to an 

 incurious eye, seems like a petrified fish of about four 

 inches long, the cardo passing for a head and mouth. It 

 is in reality a bivalve of the Linnaean genus of Mytilus 

 and the species of Crista Galli; called by Lister, 

 Rastellum ; by Rumphius, Ostreum plicatum minus ; by 

 D'Argenville, Auris Porci, s. Crista Galli ; and by those 

 who make collections, cock's comb. Though I applied 

 to several such in London, I never could meet with an 

 entire specimen ; nor could I ever find in books any 

 engraving from a perfect one. In the superb museum 

 at Leicester House *, permission was given me to exa- 



1 The superb museum at Leicester House, originally the property of 

 Sir Ashton Lever, and long known as the Leverian Museum, is charac- 

 terized by Pennant as magnificent and instructive, and as " the most 

 astonishing collection of the subjects of natural history ever collected, in 

 so short a space, by any individual. To the disgrace of our kingdom, 

 after the first burst of wonder was over, it became neglected ; and when 

 it was offered to the public, by the chance of a guinea lottery, only eight 

 thousand out of thirty-six thousand tickets were sold. Finally, the 

 capricious goddess frowned on the spirited proprietor of such a number 

 of tickets, and transferred the treasure to the possessor of only two, 

 Mr. Parkinson." The successful candidate for fortune's favours proved 

 that they were not ill bestowed upon him, by continually adding, in the 

 most liberal manner, to the collection which had thus come into his 

 possession, and by building, expressly for its reception, near the south 

 end of Blackfriars Bridge, a house (subsequently appropriated to the 

 Surrey Institution) in which the specimens of natural history and of art, 

 of which the museum consisted, were exhibited for many years. They 

 were finally disposed of by auction, in 1806. Some idea may be formed 

 of the extent of the collection at that time by the duration of the sale for 

 sixty-five days, and by the number of the lots, which amounted to 7879. 

 E. T. B. 



