XVI COXCHOLOGICAL AUTHORS. 



papers on the British Testacea ; especially the excellent 

 observations on the hinges of bivalve shells, in the sixth 

 volume, by Mr. Wood. Maton and Rackett's Descriptive 

 Catalogue, in the e'ghth volume, is subsequently men- 

 tioned. 



Lister. Huddesford's edition of Lister'^ Historia Con- 

 chyliorum. Folio, 1770. 



The basis and ancient foundation of all good Conchology. 

 This admirable volume contains one thousand and fifty-five 

 plates, besides twenty-one of anatomical figures, all drawn 

 from original specimens by his two daughters, Susanna and 

 Anna. Considering the state of natural science at the time 

 this work was first issued, one hundred and thirty-three 

 years since, it is impossible to contemplate this stupendous 

 effort of genius and industry, without admiration at the 

 grandeur of the design, and the correctness of its execution. 

 (Some of the plates, especially the anatomical ones, are of 

 matchless excellence. And it is gratifying to recollect, that 

 the original drawings are preserved among the archives of 

 the University of Oxford. His Historia Animalium Angliae, 

 and its appendix, are now of rare occurrence. 



Maton and Rackett. A descriptive Catalogue of the Bri- 

 tish Testacea, by W. G. Maton, M.D.V. P.L. S. &c. and 

 the Rev. Thomas Rackett, M. A. F. L. S. &c. in the eighth 

 volume of the JLinnean Transactions ; with six colored 

 plates. 



A transcription of the words of Linne, with an attempt 

 at a translation of the words of Montagu. Of a production 

 which for ten years has been considered as possessing the 

 rare value of decisive authority, we will adventure to exa- 

 mine the merits, as it may prevent the frequent repetition 

 of our own remarks, and exhibit a memorable caution to 

 future writers against too much dependence upon confident 

 pretensions, 



It is probable that the whole art of typography cannot 

 produce so gross a mass of errors. This is the more re- 

 markable, as their paper was subjected to the usual exami- 

 nation of a committee of science, and was publicly read be- 

 fore the Society by the principal author himself. The list of 

 corrigenda also, though unusually voluminous, and bearing 

 marks of an anxious amendment of their work in 



its 



