MELVILL: BRITISH PIONEERS IN CONCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE. 1 99 



The next few years do not seem to have been prolific in 

 conchological lore; but we must not forget Mr. George 

 Perry, who, in 1811, published his "Conchology; or, the 

 Natural History of Shells," a folio volume, with sixty-one 

 plates and corresponding letterpress. Owing to the author 

 almost entirely ignoring any priority of nomenclature, both in 

 species and genera, and the fantastic figuring and coloration 

 of his plates, he has been ridiculed and held in contempt by 

 subsequent writers, especially Reeve and Sowerby, the former, 

 indeed, censuring him in language which might almost be called 

 unparliamentary, though we must confess there was some 

 measure of excuse for all that was written. Perry, however, 

 was the first to give appellations to certain Cypnea, e.g., valen- 

 tiana, formerly known as princeps, and this name of Perry's 

 must stand. Miirex rota (Sowb.), must yield also to M. 

 anatomica (Perry). The genus Coltimna, a curious sinistral land 

 shell, is also duly recognised. Mr. S. Brookes, in 1815, brought out 

 an "Introduction to the Study of Conchology." This work is 

 now almost forgotten, as is Mr. S. Burrows' "Elements of Con- 

 chology," published the same year. 



Epoch iii., 1816 — 1824. 



This, though not embracing more than eight years, is per- 

 haps the most important period in the history of the classifica- 

 tion of molluscs, for it includes the writings of the illustrious 

 Baron Cuvier, who, in 1815, completed his " Memoire pour 

 servir a I'Histoire de I'Anatomie des MoUusques." This work 

 may justly be said to be the starting point in the right direction 

 of the physiological study of the animals rather than the shelly 

 fabric they inhabit, with a view to their correct classification 

 and systematic position ; and almost coeval with this, from 

 1815 — 1822, appealed the classical work of the Chevalier Jean 

 Baptiste de Lamarck, his "Histoire des Animaux sans Vertebres," 

 undoubtedly his greatest work, and one of the most important 



