lO 



The Natural History 



Forciy 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 examine for this article ; and though I was 

 disappointed as to the fossil, I was highly gratified with 

 the sight of several of the shells themselves in high 

 preservation. This bivalve is only known to inhabit the 

 Indian Ocean, where it fixes itself to a zoophyte, known 

 by the name Gorgonia. The curious foldings of the 

 suture, the one into the other, the alternate flutings or 

 grooves, and the curved form of my specimen being much 

 easier expressed by the pencil than by words, I have 

 caused it to be drawn and engraved. 



MYTILUS, Crista Galli: 



Cor?iica A?/imo?iis are very common about this village. 

 As we were cutting an inclining path up the Hanger, the 

 labourers found them frequently on that steep, just under 

 the soil, in the chalk, and of a considerable size. In the 

 lane above Well-head, in the way to Emshot, they abound 

 in the bank, in a darkish sort of marl ; and are usually 

 very small and soft : but in Clay's Pond, a little farther 

 on, at the end of the pit, where the soil is dug out for 

 manure, I have occasionally observed them of large 

 dimensions, perhaps fourteen or sixteen inches in diameter. 

 But as these did not consist of firm stone, but were 

 formed of a kind of terra lapidosa, or hardened clay, as 

 soon as they were exposed to the rains and frost they 

 mouldered away. These seemed as if they were a 

 very recent production. In the chalk-pit, at the north- 



