MELV1LL : LOVELL REEVE — A BRIEF SKETCH. 347 



sold in ignorance of their value. It was at this sale that the two C. 

 gloria maris were procured, which eventually found their way into the 

 de Burgh and Lombe Taylor Museums. Having thus become a 

 capitalist on a small scale, and having a great desire, as fervent as 

 laudable, to illustrate in a permanent manner all molluscan species, 

 Reeve first started an emporium in King William Street, Strand, for 

 the sale of specimens and the publication of works. 1 It was here that 

 in 1843, ne began the most ambitious work of his life, entitled 

 '"Conchologia Iconica." It consisted of a series of monographs, 

 each devoted to a single genus, and the first fifteen volumes 

 were produced under the eye of the editor, who wrote all the 

 descriptions, 2 the illustrations being drawn by Mr. G. B. Sowerby, 

 Sen., the last five volumes were not only illustrated by Sowerby, but 

 the descriptions were likewise written by him after Reeve's death. 



The shells selected for figuring were the finest examples then pro- 

 curable, and the series started with the genus Conus, a frontispiece 

 being devoted to C. gloria maris. Besides his own collection speci- 

 mens were chiefly selected from the Cuming, Saul, and Stainforth 

 collections. The first of these is now incorporated in the British 

 Museum, the second, especially good in Cyfircea and Murex, is at 

 Cambridge, the third was dispersed by auction nearly fifty years ago, 

 but it is still known where many of its types are located. 



It has lately become the custom, in certain circles, to sneer at many 

 of the authors who flourished about the period of which we are 

 treating," inasmuch as in most cases, anatomical details are not 

 sufficiently considered. Doubtless the 'Conchologia' is not so much 

 a work for the malacologist as the conchologist, but that Reeve did 

 not neglect this important side of the science is shown by the publica- 

 tion, in 1850, of "The Elements of Conchology, an Introduction to 

 the Natural History of Shells, and of the Animals which inhabit 

 them." 



1 The publishing house thus started earned an enviable notoriety by the issue of many a 

 natural history work of excellence, and has been recently converted into a limited company. It has 

 been located for years at Henrietta Street, Covent Garden ; but we believe we are correct in 

 stating that the descendants of Mr. Reeve have now no interest in it. 



2 Lovell Reeve described, as new, very nearly two thousand species of mollusca, on a rough 

 computation, but amongst them are many well-known and fine members of their class. He 

 narrates in his 'Conchologia' that the Cypra-a suhii?-idis was the first he essayed to differentiate, 

 it having been, till his time, confused with C. errones. The majority of his species were described 

 in his own monographs, but he occasionally collaborated with the Brothers Adams. 



3 Naturally the classification of the 'Conchologia' is now out of date, and the work not 

 scientifically so reliable as when first issued ; but to our mind the excellence of its plates will for 

 ever remain unrivalled. 



