Ayo 



VUl 



Much, however, remains to be done; for when wc 

 confider the locality of the productions of nature, and 

 the fmall portion of our extenfive coafls, which have 

 been examined witli a microfcopic eye, it need not be 

 feared that the fubjeft will foon be exhaufted, or that we 

 have yet a knowledge of one half of the fmaller fpecies, 

 which elude the refearches of the naked eye. In order, 

 therefore, to ifiakc the hiftory of britifl: conchology as 

 com pleat as the nature of things ^\'ould admit, a work 

 was warning, that would bring the whole into one view, 

 fyflematically arranged. 



Such a wOTk /we have been induced to undertake, 

 by the great variety of fliells v/hich have fallen to our 

 lottodifcover, many of which have never been defcribed 

 as cnglidi, and fome entirely new; which, together witli 

 thofe already known, will make near four hundred and 

 feventy different fpecies ; a number far exceeding any 

 thing hitherto on the fubjeft, and more than treble thofe 

 defcribed by Da Costa : and wc trull it will be re- 

 ceived with that candour ufualiy bellowed on fo intri- 

 cate, and arduous an undertaking; as our bell endea- 

 vours have not been wanting to elucidate a fubjeft, the 

 inveRigation of which has been produftive of fo much 

 plcafure and araufement, our refearches having been ex- 

 tenfive: 



