[ *60 J 
VII. An Account of fome minute Britlfh Shells, either not duly 
obferved , or totally unnoticed by Authors . In a Letter to 
Sir jofeph Banks, Bart . P, R . S . by the Rev* John Light foot, 
M. A. F. R t S. 
Read January 26, 1786. 
DEAR SIR, 
A S you were pleafed to think a few (hells, which I lately 
fubmitted to your infpe&ion, might not be unworthy 
the notice of the Royal Society; encouraged by fo refpe&able 
an opinion, I fhall now beg leave to lay before you fome Draw- 
ings which I have caufed to be made of them, together with 
fuch remarks concerning them as may tend, in fome degree, to 
illuftrate their natural hiftory. 
The firft I fhall mention is an univalve, coiled up into a 
fpiral forn% the cavity of which is divided into three, four, or 
more diftinCt chambers or apartments by folid tranfverfe fepta, 
which communicate with each other by a triradiated aperture. 
Thefe characters accord with no genus of (hells, hitherto 
eftablilhed, fo well as the Nautilus . It is true, it has not fo 
many chambers as others of that genus, nor are the apertures 
of the fepta of a tubular form ; but as thefe, according to the 
laws of method, are to be confidered as marks of a fpecific 
rather than generic nature, fo I fhall not hefitate to refer the 
fhell under confideration to the family of Nautilus , at lead till 
we 
