MELVILL : THE PRINCIPLES OF NOMENCLATURE. 439 
passing by his time, and excepting the Roman, C. PLinius 
SEcunpbws, the Elder (ob. A.D. 79), we find that until fourteen 
centuries later little advance was made in any of these branches 
of science. ‘These might indeed be called the “ dark” ages. 
VINCENTIUS BELLOVACENSIS and ALBERTUS MAGNUS, in 
1494-95, both published treatises, in which mention of a few 
shells occurred. 7 
Fifty-five years later, GESNER, RONDELET and BELON came 
on the scene. ‘The first of these, Conrad Gesner, divides shells 
into four classes, Univalvia, Bivalvia, Turbinata and Anomata ; 
the first section constituting only the Pate/le and Haliotis, the 
third most of our Gastropoda, the last, star-fish, Medusze, and 
the like, long since expunged from the ‘‘ Testacea.” 
BELON, In 1553, published a work termed “ De Aquati- 
libus,” containing a few figures of shells. RoNDELET, a doctor 
at Montpellier, issued a treatise, ‘‘ Universa aquatilium 
historia,” containing many representations of ‘Testacea. 
In the following century, the great Aldrovandus, a few of 
whose generic names have been adopted by binomial writers, 
flourished, and in 1606 his well-known work, ‘‘De Mollibus 
Crustaceis, Testaceis et Zoophytis,” saw the light. He classified 
molluscs in three sections, Univalvia, Turbinata, and Livalvia, 
mixing up Echini, Lepades, and such like with the Gastropods 
or Turbinata. ‘lhe Univalves comprised, as in Gesner’s 
method, Haliotis and Patella. 
Fasius COLUMNA in 1616 published a work on the Purple- 
dye Fish, entitled ‘‘ De Purpura ab animali testaceo fusa, de hoc 
ipso animali, aliisque rarioribus testaceis quibusdam.” 
Several writers, almost forgotten in Conchology, ‘whose 
names are commemorated however in Botanical Science, e.g., 
Basit, BESLER and Cuiocco followed, the latter publishing 
at Verona a full account of the shells of Signor Calceolari in 
the “‘Museum Calceolarium.” This would appear to be the 
earliest museum catalogue extant, so far as natural science Is 
A.D. 79 
1494-95 
1550 
1553 
1555 
1606 
1616 
