MELVILL: BRITISH PIONEERS IN CONCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE. 209 



It was in 1833 that Dr. J. Gwyn Jeffreys contributed 

 his first conchological article entitled ' The Synopsis of 

 Testaceous Pneumonobranchous Mollusca of Great Britain.' 

 Most of this lamented conchologist's writings are of a later period 

 than we propose to treat of in this address, being mainly written 

 after the year i860, but we cannot refrain from noticing his great 

 worth here, especially as regards his researches into the Mollusca 

 of British and Northern Seas, and expressing our regret that his 

 collections, so unique and valuable in rare types, should have 

 been suffered to go out of this country, and be purchased by an 

 American Institution. He possessed a more intimate knowledge 

 of the shores of the North Atlantic than has been the lot of any 

 other man. He died at his residence, Ware Priory, Herts., 

 January 24th, 1885, aged 77. His greatest work undoubtedly 

 is 'British Conchology,' in 5 vols., 1862 — 69. 



Thomas Nuttall, born at Settle, 1786, although claimed by 

 the Americans as one of their sons, yet is undoubtedly an 

 Englishman both by parentage, and locality both of birth and 

 death. Most of his life, however, was spent in explorations in 

 North America, and Prof W. H. Dall has, not long ago, given 

 a resume of his life and labours, treating him as one of the 

 eighteen most distinguished American conchologists. His 

 greatest passion was for Botany, and Prof Asa Gray and Torry 

 have granted him the chief place in having ' contributed more 

 than any other man ' to the advancement of the Flora of the 

 U.S.A. At that time hostile tribes of Indians filled the whole 

 country between the Pacific Coasts and the Mississippi, and any 

 journeyings thither were attended with the utmost danger. He 

 collected shells in Upper California and Oregon, and Mr. Con- 

 rad described them in Trans. Am. Phil. Soc , vol. vii, pp. 227 — 

 268. A great deal of confusion arose in the disposition of these 

 collections. Many, including a few not named by Conrad, were 

 placed in the cabinet of Mr. Jay, of Philadelphia, and Mr. 

 Nuttall, on his return to England, where he settled near Liver- 

 pool, sent out specimens of those very shells with new 



