SHELLS. 103 



paid the slightest attention to localities, and seem indeed 

 not to have been aware that any importance could attach to 

 the subject. However, the voyages of Leschenault de La- 

 tour and of Messrs. Diard and Duvaucel, have thrown some 

 light on certain species of India and Ceylon. The testa- 

 ceous productions of the Indian archipelago are somewhat 

 better known since the days of Rumphius and Seba, incon- 

 sequence of numerous obsen-ations made by MM. Peron 

 and Lesueur, during the expedition of Captain Baudin, and 

 by the investigations of MM. Quoy, Gaymard, and Gaudi- 

 chaud, in that of Freycinet. The shells of Java have also 

 been well illustrated by Kulk and Van Hasselt. 



The same general fact applies to most molluscous ani- 

 mals as to almost every other department of zoology, that 

 the genera and species increase as we advance from polar 

 and temperate to equatorial regions. Africa is probably too 

 dry and sandy, but the more varied soils of Asia and Amer- 

 ica, combining nearly equal heat with greater moisture, 

 produce in their torrid portions a more abundant store. 



As the countries to the description of which these volumes 

 are devoted have long been known to Europeans, the beauti- 

 ful shells of India and its islands are common in the cabinets 

 of naturaUsts. The Dutch, at the period of their maritime 

 glory, were the principal importers of Asiatic shells, m col- 

 lecting which they seem to have found as much pleasure as 

 in cuTtivating tulips and other gaudy productions of the 

 vegetable kingdom ; and of late years the EngHsh have 

 abundantly supplied their own cabinets, as well as those of 

 the Continent, with the more common or beautiful species, 

 although little zeal has been displayed by them in attempt- 

 ing to elucidate, in a philosophical manner, the conchology 

 of^India. Although the shells of all warm climates pos- 

 sess the general character of brilliancy of colouring, those 

 which inhabit the Indian seas are so pecuharly remarkable 

 in this respect as to form indeed the principal ornaments 

 of our collections. Notwithstanding this, however, they 

 are not in general so keenly sought after as those of coun- 

 tries less generally or more recently known. 



Of the cephalopodous mollusca which occur in the Indian 

 seas, we may mention the Sejna officinaUs and tuberculata, 

 from the black fluid contained in the abdomen of which, or 

 of some other species of this family, China ink is said to 



