SHELLS. 



About Braiil, and in the gulf of Mexico, there are found 

 murices and dolia of extreme beauty, and alfo a great variety 

 of porcelains, purpurae, peftens, neritz, bucardias, or heart- 

 iheils, and elegant limpets. 



The iflc of Cayenne affords one of the mod beautiful of 

 the buccinum kind, and the Midas ear is found principally 

 about this place. 



Jamaica, and the idand of Barbadoes, have their (hores 

 covered with porcelains, chamae, and buccina ; and at St. 

 .Domingo thrre are found almoft all the fame fpecies of (hells 

 that we have from the Eall Indies, though they are lefs beau- 

 tiful, and the colours more pale and dead. The pearl oyiter 

 is found alfo on this coatl, but fmaller than in the Perfian 

 gulf. At Martinico there are found in general the fame 

 (hells as at St. Domingo, but yet lefs beautiful. 



About Canada are found the violet chamre, and the lakes 

 of that country abound with mufcles of very elegant pale 

 blue and pale red colours ; fome fpecies of thefe are re- 

 markably light and thin ; others are very thick and heavy. 



The Great Bank of Newfoundland is very barren in 

 (hells : the principal kinds found there are mufcles of feveral 

 fpecies, fome of which are of confiderable beauty. 



About Carthagena there are many mother-of-pearl (hells, 

 but thev are not of fo brilUant colours as thofe of the Perfian 



The ifland of Magellan, at the fouthern point of America, 

 furnirties us with a very remarkable fpecies ofmufcle, called 

 by its name ; and feveral very elegant fpecies of limpets are 

 found there, particularly the pyramidal. 



In Africa, on the coaft of Guinea, there is a prodigious 

 quantity of that fmall fpecies of porcelain, which is ufed 

 there as money ; and there is another fpecies of porcelain on 

 the fame coail, which is all over white : the women make 

 bracelets of thefe, and the people of the Levant adorn their 

 hair with them. 



The coatt of Zanguebar is very rich in (hells : we find 

 there a valt variety of the large porcelains, many of them of 

 great beauty ; and the nux maris, or fea-nut, is very fre- 

 quent there. Befide thefe, and many other (hells, there arc 

 found on this coaft all the fpecies of nautili, many of which 

 are very beautiful. 



The Canary Ides are found to abound with a vaft variety 

 of the murices, and fome other good (hells ; and we have 

 from Madeira great variety of the echini, or lea-eggs, dif- 

 ferent from thofe of the European fcas. Several fpecies 

 of mufcles are alfo common there, and the auris marina is no 

 where more abundant. 



The Red fea is beyond all other parts of the world abun- 

 dant in (hells, fo that fcarcely any kind is wanting there ; but 

 thofe wc principally have from thence are the purpurae, porce- 

 lain?, and echini marini. 



The Mediterranean and Northern ocean contain a great 

 variety of fliells, and many of very remarkable elegance and 

 beauty : they are upon the whole, however, greatly inferior 

 to thofe of the Ealt Indies. The Mediterranean abounds 

 much more in Ihells than the ocean. 



The gulf of Tarcntum affords great variety of purpurse, 

 of porcelains, nautili, and elegant oylters ; the coails of 

 Naples and Sardinia afford alfo the fame, and with them a 

 vaft number of the folens of all the known fpecies. 



The ifland of Sicily'v s famous for a very elegant kind of 

 oyiter, which is white all over ; pinnx marina; and porce- 

 lains are alio found in great plenty there, with tellinse aud 

 chamx of many fpecies, and a great variety of other beau- 

 tiful (hells. 



Corlica is famous beyond all other places for vaft quan* 

 Vol. XXXIl. 



titles of the pinnse marina;, and many other Ttry beautiful 

 (hells are found there. Lifter, Hift. Conchyl. 



About Syracufe are found the gondola (hell, the alated 

 murex, and a great variety of elegant fnails, with fome of 

 the dolia and ncritar. 



The Adriatic fea, or gulf of Venice, is lefs furnilhed 

 with (hells than almoft any of the fcas thereabout. Mufcles 

 and oyfters of feveral fpecies are, however, found there, 

 and fome of the cordiformes or heart-(hells ; there are alfo 

 fome tellina;. About Ancona there are found valt number* 

 of the pholades buried in (tone, and the aures marinac arc 

 particularly frequent about Puzzoli. Bonani. Recreat. 

 Ment. et Ocul. 



The ports of Marfeilles, Toulon, and Antibes, are full 

 of pinnre marina;, mufcles, tellinx, and chamae. The coafts 

 of Bretagne afford great numbers of the conchae anatiferae 

 and pouffepieds ; they are found on old rotten boards, oa 

 fea fubftances, and among clufters of fpunges.. The other 

 ports of France, as Rochelle, Dunkirk, Bre(t, St. Maloes, 

 and others, furnilh oyfters, excellent for the table, but of 

 the common kind, and of no beauty in their (hells; great 

 numbers of mufcles are al(o found there ; and the common 

 tellinae, the onion-peel oyfters, the folens, and conchas ana- 

 tiferae, are alfo frequent (here. At Granville, in Lower 

 Normandy, there are found very beautiful peftens, and fome 

 of the cordiformes, or heart-(helU. Our own Enghlh caalti 

 are not the leaft fruitful in (hells, though they do not pro- 

 duce fuch elegantly painted ones as the Indies. 



About Plymouth are found oyfters, mufcles, and folens, 

 in great abundance ; and there, and on molt of our other 

 (hores, are numbers of the aures marinx and dentalia, with 

 peftens, which are very excellent food ; and many elegant 

 fpecies of the chamx and tellinx are fi(hed up in the fea about 

 Scarborough, ar.d other places. 



Ireland affords us great numbers of mufcles, and fome very 

 elegant fcallop (hells in great abundance, and the pholades 

 are frequent on moft of our (hores. We have alfo great 

 variety of the buccina and cochlex, fome voluti ; and oo 

 the Guernfey coaft a peculiarly beautiful fnail, called thence 

 the Guern/ey-fnall. 



The coafts of Spain and Portugal afford much the fame 

 fpecies of (hells with the Eaft Indies, but they are of much 

 fainter colours, and greatly inferior in beauty. Hift. Nat. 

 Eclairc. p. 172. 



There are, according to Tavernier and others, fome river* 

 in Bavaria, in which there are found pearls of a lino water. 

 About Cadi/, there arc found very large pinnx marinx, and 

 fome (ine buccina. The ides of Majorca and Minorca afford 

 a great variety of extremely elegant (hells. The pinnz 

 marinx are alfo very numerous tiicre, and their iilk is 

 wrought into gloves, (lockings, and other things. The 

 Baltic affords a great many beautiful fpecies, but parti- 

 cularly an orange-coloured pedten, or fcallop (hell, which 

 is not found in any other part of the world. 



The frc(h-watcr (hells are found much more frequently, 

 and in much greater plenty, than the fea kinds ; there ia 

 fcarcely a pond, a ditch, or a river of frelh water, in any part 

 of the world, in which there are not found vaft numbers of 

 thefe (hells with the li(h living in them. All thefe Ihells are 

 fmall, and they are of very little beauty, benig ufually of 

 a plain greyidi or brownilh colour. Our ditches altord u» 

 chamx, buccina, neritx, and lonu- palelLx' ; but the Nile, 

 and fome other rivers, furnidied the ancients willi a lpccic» 

 of tellina, which was large and rat.ible, and fo much (iipcriur 

 to the common fea tellina in ll.ivour, that it ia lonunonly 

 known by the name of tellina retia, the ro^at ttllina, 



3P Wc 



