Conchologyi 30' 



CONCH OLOGY. 



NO. VIII. 



Of the methods of fishing and collecting shells. 

 Land shells are immediately within the reach of the hand of the 

 collector, as well as many sea and river shells, which inhabit shal- 

 low waters, or attach themselves to rocks or marine plants on the 

 shores of the ocean. These shells which are at moderate depths 

 in the sea, are to be collected by dredging. But in whatever way 

 shells are found, those are always to be preferred which still con- 

 tain the living animal ; for then, not only some information may 

 he obtained with regard to its structure and natural history, but 

 the shells themselves are in all their natural beauty, and the full 

 glow of their colors. Those shells too, should be preferred, 

 which are procured from the deeper parts of the ocean, because 

 they have then arrived at the largest size, and are in the greatest 

 perfection. But these are beyond the reach of man, and are on- 

 ly accidentally found on the shores after storms, or attached to 

 sea weeds which have been torn from the rocks by the agitation 

 of the waves. 



When shells are found with the animal alive, the method re- 

 commended to destroy it and separate it entirely from the shell, 

 is to boil it in water for a very short time, and after allowing it 

 to cool gradually, and to lay it in cold water till it is cleaned. By 

 this process, the attachment between the shell and the animal is 

 destroyed, and the latter, which has become hard and contracted, 

 is easily picked out from its covering. The shell, after this treat- 

 ment, is ready to be placed in the cabinet, or to be polished in 

 a way we shall hereafter describe, according to the state in which 

 it is found, or the views of the collector. 



As the pearl has been held in high estimation in all ages of the 

 world, and as it is an important object of commerce in many coun- 

 tries, the history of the pearl fishery, or of those shell fish which 

 produce the pearl, cannot fail to be interesting. 



In different parts of Britian the pearl fishery has been carried on 

 to a considerable extent ; and in some places it has befen reckoned 

 of such value, that governn)ents have granted the right of fishing 

 to individuals by patent. By a grant of this kind. Sir John Haw- 

 kins obtained the privilege of fishing for pearls in the river Irt in 

 Cumberland ; and Buchan of Auchmacoy seems to have held, by a 

 similar right, the sole privilege of the pearl fishery near the mouth of 

 river Ythan in Aberdeenshire ; for it appears that this grant was 

 resumed by government in 1633, in the first parliament of 



