THE 



CONCHOLOQICAL MAGAZINE 



Vol. II October, 1908 No. 10 



A COLLECTION OF SHELLS 



OF THE 



YAMAMOTOS (with PI. Ill) 



By Toraichi Fl'JH 



The Yamamotos, a distinguished family in this city, has col- 

 lected a great number of shells. Mataichi Yamamoto, the present 

 master of the family, had a naturalist for a grand-father who was 

 commonly called " Boyo." The epitaph on his gravestone, written 

 by Setsudo Saito, a scholar learned in Chinese classics, tells us that : 

 " Our honourable master was born to a family by the name of 

 Yamamoto in Kyoto, which was of the medical profession. He was 

 named Seju by his own parents ; yet had another name " Boyo," as 

 a nickname, by which he was far better known in his manhood. 

 He greatly respected Chonchu, one of the great Chinese sages like 

 Mencius and Confucius, and indulged himself in reading thousands 

 of books. His extensive store of knowledge and learning- was so 

 exceedingly profound and deep that it could not be measured. Yet 

 they praised him merely for his familiarity with " Honzogaku," the 

 Japanese conchological classics, in spite of the fact that he had all the 

 arts and sciences at his finger's end, as we might say. This was a 

 great pity and might have been to his own regret that he was popular 

 among his countrymen only for his knowledge of conchology." 



" Boyo," we have reason to believe, must have been one of the 

 rarest accomplished scholars that ever lived in Japan. His erudition 

 extended to the study on shells, which used to be and, I am very 

 sorry to say, is still a branch of science seldom studied in Japan, 

 except by a few professional conchologists. 



He was acquainted with Dr. Siebold.a famous German scientist. 

 When the doctor made a visit to Kyoto, " Boyo " was too wise and 

 diligent in his studies to let slip such an opportunity. He went to 

 him immediatly, and put to him quite a number of questions about 



