MMiscellanies. 169 
chabasie, calcareous spar, analcime, laumonite, mesotype, stilbite, 
smoky quartz, chalcedony, agate, beryl, specular iron, &c. &c. which 
both for size and finish, may well be placed among the beauties of our 
cabinets. 
We have not space or time, to give an analysis of this able memoir, 
and it is rendered unnecessary by the account of the principal facts al- 
ready given in a preceding volume of this Journal. It is our object 
in this notice to direct the attention both of scientific and of practical 
men, not only to the memoir but to the country which it describes. 
With the increasing facilities of communication, (which however can- 
not quite conquer time, space and the elements) a voyage from Bos- 
ton to Nova Scotia may become a favorite and improving excursion, 
for a few of the weeks of summer. 
9. ConcnoLocy.—Mnr. Lea on the NaiaveEs, in the Transactions 
of the American Philosophical Societyn—The mollusca of our sea~ 
board have hitherto attracted little attention, except for purposes of 
food. We never see their dwellings employed as articles of fancy or 
decoration, with the exception of the common Scallop, whose unpol- 
ished exterior must first be concealed by a coating of varnish and a 
border of gilding, before it is thought fit to enter into the construction 
of acard-rack. Even the conchologist is forced to summon both his 
philosophy and patriotism, ere he can admit the pale Purpura, the 
homely Venus, and the uncolored Pecten to take their respective 
places in his cabinet by the side of their gaudy congeners from for- 
eign seas. But if our marine shells are limited to a comparatively 
small number of species, and are, for the greater part, uninteresting in 
their forms and colors, it is far otherwise with the shelly inhabitants of 
our inland seas, and fresh water rivers, where the family of the Nai- 
ades revel in a profusion and beauty unsurpassed in the known world. 
So remarkable are these shells for the variety of their tints, and the 
delicacy of their markings as well as for their dimensions, that they 
attract the curiosity of the uneducated in the regions where they oc- 
cur, and may often be found among the ornaments of the rude cabin 
upon the banks of the Ohio, as well as upon the mantel-pieces of the 
rich in the larger towns and villages of the west; while, what is more 
important, they have in numerous instances been the occasion of 
awakening a taste for conchology, and have become the basis of sci- 
entific collections in natural history. 
Vou. XXII.—No. 1. G2. 
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