2 



POPULAR CONCHOLOGY. 



tions, the same adaptation of means to the end 

 required, the same fitness of the creature for 

 the element in which it is to reside, and the 

 mode of life it is to pursue, as he will trace in 

 the more complicated and apparently more per- 

 fect classes of animals ; finally, should he enter 

 into a more scrutinizing investigation, and make 

 it his object to become acquainted with the 

 physiology of the animal, apart from its shell, 

 and to pursue its history from its production to 

 its death, following its gradual increase and 

 advancement to its perfect state, including in 

 his researches the formation of its shell, and the 

 mode by which it receives enlargement and co- 

 lour, he will here again find the study of shells 

 as interesting as that of any portion of the 

 created kingdom. 



The most familiar name by which the study 

 of shells is known is Conchology* In pursu- 

 ing this pleasing branch of Natural History, 

 whether an extended or limited view is taken, 

 it is necessary, in the first place, to know some- 

 thing generally of the animal, its growth, the 



* From conchyllon, Gr., or concha, Lat., a shell, and 

 logos, Gr., a discourse. 



