J95 



figure of Aldrovandus has been copied by Bonanni, Gualtieri, Klein, and 

 others. Lister has given a cppy from Aldrovandus, Hist. Conch. T. 414, 

 Fig. 258 ; and Baron Born has given a correct figure from a shell in the 

 cabinet of Vienna, Mus. C<es. Vind. test. T. i. /. 8. Aldrovandus relates 

 that the shell which he described was found in the Mediterranean, on 

 the coast of Spain. 



This shell is exceedingly rare : M. Menard observes, that it is not in 

 any of the Parisian collections, not even in the Museum of Natural His- 

 tory ; and that he knew of but one in the possession of M. Pech, whose 

 cabinet was sold to the Emperor of Austria. The particular characters 

 of this shell demanding its being placed in a new and distinct genus, 

 were fully noticed by Baron Born, who says " Ob extrernitatem utram- 

 que hiantem Solenibus affinis, a quibus dente exserto crassissimo differt." 

 Mus. C<es. p. 20. 



M. Pech, on comparing the characters of his recent shell with those 

 of the fossil one, was of opinion that, in general, they agreed ; and par- 

 ticularly that the hinge was the same. But he found that the recent shell 

 was wider and less tumid, in proportion to its size, than the fossil one, 

 and that it gaped at both ends, but less at the posterior than at the ante- 

 rior part; whilst, in the fossil shell, the opening in the posterior part was 

 hardly discoverable. From this comparison, M. Menard concludes, that 

 the recent and fossil shells are of distinct species : the propriety of which 

 conclusion will at once be seen, on a view of the figure given by Born, 

 and of that given by M. Menard. The species to which the recent shell 

 belonged he named Panopea Aldrovandi ; and that to which the fossil shell 

 was referable, Panopea Faujas. 



Among the fossil shells which I had purchased from the collection of 

 Mr. Strange, was a valve, which I had valued from its resemblance to 

 the shell of Aldrovandus; but of the habitat of which I could obtain no 

 other information than the word Maryland, which was written on its 

 inner surface. On reading M. Menard's account of the Parrnese fossil, 

 I again examined this valve. A slight view of its characters; evinced that 



