I INTRODUCTION. 



ty with which the greater number of them are ob- 

 tained, and the high prices given by amateurs for some 

 of the more rare or beautiful species, when in a high 

 state of preservation, they will always continue objects 

 of great admiration and interest. 



By many persons shells have been deemed merely 

 pleasing curiosities, or pretty playthings, and collec- 

 tions of them formed with no other view than that of 

 gratifying an elegant and expensive taste: but the inves- 

 tigations of scientific men, have placed them in a high- 

 er rank ; nor can it now with truth be asserted, that 

 a knowledge of them does not lead to any of the useful 

 results, which the study of other brauches of natural 

 history has produced. Much interesting and instruct- 

 ive information has already been derived from them, 

 and a far greater portion may be reasonably antici- 

 pated, from the skilful examination of modern natu- 

 ralists. A rapid progress in the attainment of this 

 knowledge must necessarily be relarded by the very 

 limited observation that can be made of the habits and 

 formation of animals dwelling in the impenetrable 

 depths of the sea, or the impervious shades of the fo- 

 rest. It must also be admitted, from the intimate con- 

 nection emitting between concbologj and geology, 



