vi 



PREFACE. 



arranged, he will view it with a delight in- 

 finitely greater than that which could be 

 afforded while it remained in confusion; and 

 he will be further induced to enlarge his 

 knowledge of the subject by consulting more 

 extended and more elaborate treatises; nor 

 will he rest satisfied until he becomes com- 

 plete master of the science in all its bearings. 



Among the many works which have been 

 published on Conchology, there is none which 

 appears exactly to answer the purpose intended 

 by the present volume. Most of them are 

 addressed exclusively to men of science, and 

 are encumbered (to them enriched) with a vast 

 mass of details, the attempt to embrace which 

 would only confuse and embarrass a beginner; 

 while others, which profess to be elementary, 

 are inapplicable to the purposes of exact ar- 

 rangement. The system which has been here 

 followed is that adopted by Lamarck in his 

 great work, entitled " Les Animaux sans Ver- 

 tebres ; " but the genera established since that 

 work was written have been inserted wherever 

 it was possible. To each new genus is attached 



