MELVILL: BRITISH PIONEERS IN CONCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE. 1 93 



The first book that I can ascertain to have been the pro- 

 duction of a writer purely British, containing mention of the 

 Testacea, was that b)' Merret, published in London in 1677, and 

 entitled " Pinax rerum Naturalium Britannicarum ; " the matter 

 however is limited, and not very original, being mostly confined 

 to quotations from Aldrovandus and others. 



About the same year Dr. Carleton or Charlton published 

 " Onomasticon Zoicum," in which three sub-divisions of Shells 

 are made, Turbinata, Univalvia, and Bivalvia, Aldrovandus and 

 Jonston of Amsterdam being largely drawn upon. 



Dr. Major next in 1675 re-published the treatise of Fabius 

 Columna, in which all shells are divided into the Univalvia and 

 Plurivalvia, the latter sub-divided into Bivalvia and Plurivalvia, 

 and in 1681 Dr. Nehemiah Grew(i64i — 1712), published his 

 "Museum Regalis Societatis" in the English language, in which 

 several plates and pages are devoted to the Testaceous molluscs. 



Dr. R. Sibbald, in 1684, published a work entitled "Scotia 

 Illustrata," in which for the first time the Land and Aquatic 

 Shells are separated, the latter being divided into {a) Freshwater 

 {b) Marine. This work was not well carried out, and is full of 

 erroneous theories. 



In 1689 Mr. Cole read a paper before the Royal Society, 

 published in their Transactions, on the sources of the Tyrian 

 Dye, obtained from various species of Murex and Buccinum, 

 now Purpura. 



At the same time the most celebrated English conchologist 

 of this epoch began to publish, his first work, which took seven 

 years (1685 — 1692) namely Dr. Martin Lister. It was entitled 

 •' Historia sive Synopsis Methodica Conchyliorum ad. viv. 

 delin.," four parts and two appendices. The titles of these four 

 divisions were respectively (i) " De Turbinibus terrestribus," (ii) 

 "Aquae dulcis et bivalvibus aqute dulcis," (iii) De Bivalvibus 

 marinis et conchis anatiferis, (iv) De patellis Dentalibus, et de 

 Buccinis marinis." About twelve hundred shells are figured in 

 this first class work, in which the author was ably aided by two 

 gifted daughter . 



