NEARLY COMPLETED, 



MAKING TWO THICK QUARTO VOLUMES, 



CONCHOLOGIA SYSTEMATICA, 



OR 



COMPLETE SYSTEM OF CONCHOLOGY : 



IN WHICH 



THE LEPADES AND MOLLUSCA ARE DESCRIBED AND CLASSIFIED 

 ACCORDING TO THEIR NATURAL ORGANIZATION AND HABITS ; 



ILLUSTRATED WITH 



300 Highly-Finished Copper-Plate Engravings, 



BY MESSRS. SOWERBY ; 



CONTAINING ABOVE 



1500 FIGURES OF SHELLS, 



MANY OF WHICH ARE ENTIRELY NEW TO SCIENCE. 



By LOVELL REEVE, A.L.S., F.Z.S., 



CORRESPONDING MEMBER OF THE LYCEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY OF NEW 



YORK, ETC. 



PROSPECTUS. 



The science of Conchology has been more materially enriched during 

 the last ten years than at any period of its history : indeed the researches 

 of Quoy and Gaimard, D'Orbigny, Cuming, and others, have furnished 

 such an abundance of novelty, that conchologists have been entirely de- 

 voted of late to the task of naming and describing new species. With 

 so much ardour has this been carried on in our own country, that little 

 or no attention has been given to the relative arrangement of the genera; 

 every one follows the popular classification of Lamarck ; but, has any 

 one properly considered how far that system is effected by modern 

 discovery ? This is a desideratum which the * Conchologia Syste- 

 matica' is designed to supply; the generic distribution of our great 

 predecessor is made conformable in this work to the present state of 

 science, being modified in accordance with the researches of the mo- 

 dern travellers and anatomists of all tongues and countries. 



