PREFACE. 



i HE elegance and simplicity in the contour or 

 shape of shells, the richness and variety of their 

 colors, and the singularity in many of their forms, 

 have ever excited attention to this confined but in- 

 teresting department of created nature : and the 

 comparative facility with which they may be col- 

 lected and arranged, together with the durability of 

 their structure, make them peculiarly adapted for- 

 the display of a cabinet. Their uses, however, have 

 not been entirely confined to the gaze of curiosity, 

 or to fanciful embellishment. The inhabitants of 

 many of them give a rich and nutritious food. The 

 greater part of the lime used in America, for agri- 

 cultural and architectural purposes, is made of cal- 

 cined shells : the public streets of Christianstadt 

 and Santa Cruz, are paved with the Strombus 

 Gigas ; and the town of Conehylioa is entirely 

 built of marine shells. The blue and white belts 

 of the Indians of North America, as sy;nbols of 

 peace and amity, in opposition to the war hatchet, 

 and by which the fate of nations is often decided, 

 are made of the Venus mercenaria; and the gorget 

 of the chieftain's war-dress is formed of the Myti 

 lus margaritiferus. The military horn of many 

 African tribes is the Murex Tritonis ; the rare va- 

 riety of which, with the volutions reversed, is held 

 b sacred, 



