British Conchology lias never been studied in tliis country except with 

 limited views as to its bearings with the conchology of other parts of the 

 globe. I had, moreover, two other reasons for endeavouring to turn my 

 collection of British Conchology and experience of Foreign Conchology to ac- 

 count ; — ^there has been an urgent want for some years past of an inexpensive 

 manual, that might be generally available to students, and illustrations of the 

 living mollusk are also wanted of more definition than mere outline sketches. 



With these three points in view, namely, cheapness, good illustrative 

 figures, details of foreign distribution, I have commenced with the land and 

 freshwater species, making it a book complete in itself, in order that the 

 marine species may remain open for future consideration. Thanks to the 

 Eev. M. J. Berkeley, and to the painstaking research of my artist, Mr. O. 

 Jewitt, I have been fortunate in obtaining figures from the life of most of the 

 genera. To complete the series, I have availed myself of some of the animal 

 figures of Moquin-Tandon. The shells of all the species, from two to four 

 views of each, have been drawn by Mr. Sowerby. 



It may be thought by some, that I have been unnecessarily long in the 

 preparation of so small a work, but, though limited to only a hundred and 

 twenty species, I could not have accomplished it to my satisfaction in less 

 time. Three seasons have been devoted to the collecting of as many living 

 specimens as possible ; and I have worked out and published extensive mono- 

 graphs of foreign species, for the sake of showing the bearings of each on its 

 representatives in Britain. In some cases, Vitrina for example, as many as 

 eighty foreign species have been separately examined in order to arrive 

 at a knowledge of the representatives in other parts of the world of a single 

 British one. 



Specimens of the Engravings. 



