‘Norwich Castle Museum. 109 
. The General Collection of Shells. 
Before proceeding further it may be well to inspect 
the collection of shells, British and Foreign, which the 
exigencies of space render it imperative should be 
somewhat dispersed. ‘The Lombe-Taylor collection 
-is to be found in the Foreign Bird Room; this must 
be taken to supplement the more important collection 
in the Reptile Room, in connection with which it will 
be described, and with which it will probably eventu- 
ally be incorporated ; whereas the collection of British 
Land, Freshwater, and Marine Shells will be found in 
the Corridors as shown on the plan. 
The great beauty, both of form and colour of many 
of the exotic shells, renders them so attractive that the 
fact is too often overlooked that they are merely the 
habitations in which dwelt the organisms they were 
designed to protect, and in contemplation of the 
casket the jewel is in danger of being forgotten. 
Thus it became fashionable to collect shells as mere 
objects of beauty, quite irrespective of their former 
inhabitants, the very name which was assigned to 
their study, “‘ Conchology ” (a discourse about shells), 
indicating its incompleteness; as well might one 
attempt to form a just idea of the life history and 
racial peculiarities of a people by the study of their 
deserted dwellings only. 
Case Il, 
The recent classification of the Mollusca is based 
upon the organ of locomotion known as the “foot,” and 
is divided into four primary classes, the first of which 
is CE PHALOPODA, in which the organs of 
progression are arranged round the head. Order I, 
DIBRANCHIATA, contains the Octopus, Cuttle- 
