INTRODUCTION 

 (Original edition of 1798, pp. vii-viii) 



The conchological collection of the late Physician and Natural 

 Philosopher, J. F. Bolten, is certainly in many ways very valuable, 

 and is remarkable in its possession of exceedingly rare specimens, 

 among which is a large supply from the newly discovered south- 

 lands. The late Dr. Bolten attempted to render his collection 

 as complete as possible, and obtained through his great number 

 of foreign acquaintances, by exchange, and great expense, a 

 collection which needs no praise. The connoisseur will be able 

 by this short description to form an idea of its value, but a greater 

 knowledge of its valuers gained by an actual examination of the 

 collection, since great stress has been placed upon color as well 

 as upon perfection of the individual specimens. 



The great diversity of the collection caused the owner to select 

 his own system of classification, and he bestowed upon his speci- 

 mens, as the list will show, Latin and German names, but, al- 

 though these were fortunately and well chosen, many of. them 

 would nevertheless remain entirely unknown to foreigners. On 

 account of my love for natural history I accepted the labor and 

 have added the Latin names according to the 13th edition of 

 Gmelin's Linnaean System, as well as many references to figures 

 of the specimens. In many instances this had to be left undone 

 because no figures were to be found or these were unsatisfactory. 

 Of univalves there are almost 7,000, and of the two and many 

 shelled organisms, about 1,300. On account of so large a mass 

 of material I hope to be forgiven because in occasional instances 

 the references were not put forth as they really should have been. 



It would be a pity if so rich and select a collection should 

 meet the fate of many a collection, namely, to be sold piecemeal. 

 The family, therefore, wishes very much to secure a single pur- 

 chaser to whom they would sell the collection for a reasonable 

 consideration, and it asks that any such purchaser make himself 

 known without delay. 



It remains to be mentioned that the shells have been uniformly 

 subjected to a thorough cleaning by skilled hands. 



Peter Friedrich Roeding. 



In the Month of September, 1798. 



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