5o4 DESCRIPTION OF THE MUSEUM. 



different strata of the earth, has also led phi- 

 losophers to decide upon the origin of different 

 formations. In consequence of the numerous re- 

 searches and the classification of M. de Lamarck, 

 a knowledge of conchology has be come one of 

 the principal bases of geology. 



The first shells in the cabinet were brought 

 by Tournefort from the Levant, and presented 

 by hirn to Louis XV. When Buff on had the su- 

 perintendence of the Garden, he obtained per- 

 mission to have them deposited there. Adanson 

 presented those which he had collected at Sene- 

 gal, and those which came from the cabinet of 

 Reaumur were added. 



Since the organization of the Museum, the ac- 

 quisition of the cabinet of the Stadtholder, the 

 shells brought by the naturalists of captain Bau- 

 din's expedition, those found by Richard at 

 Cayenne, those collected by Olivier in the Levant 

 and in Persia, those which have been recently 

 sent from North America by MM. Milbert and 

 Lesueur,and lastly, those which we have received 

 from different correspondents, have made the 

 collection very considerable ; and the comparison 

 of the fossil species with the analogous living 

 ones, renders it valuable for study. 



Those animals whose body is covered with a 

 shell belong to the class of mollusca ; but though 



