REVIEWS OF NEW PUBLICATIONS. 
449 
It is replete with interesting matter, and contains much that may instruct even 
the experienced geologist. If we are to notice the second volume—which it will 
give us pleasure to do, if practicable,—it must be in a future number. The book 
is inscribed to the Earl of Munster. 
Molluscous Animals , including Shell-fish ; containing an Exposition of their 
Structure, Systematical Arrangement, Physical Distribution, and Dietetical Uses, 
with a Reference to the Extinct Races. Forming the Article “ Mollusca” in the 
Seventh Edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica. By John Fleming, D.D., 
F.R.S.E., M.W.S., &c. &c. &c. Edinburgh: Adam and Charles Black. 1837. 
8vo. pp. 246. 
The study of part of the subject treated of by Dr. Fleming has long formed 
a popular amusement. What! exclaims the reader, those Snails and other 
“nasty creatures” to which ladies at least must surely object. No: not these, 
but their calcareous coverings, called shells. Molluscous animals have been 
divided into two classes : those with shells, and those which are destitute of such 
appendages. The study of the former has been termed Conchology, that of the 
latter Molluscology. Thus persons who would turn from the naked Mollusca 
with disgust, collect with enthusiasm all the marine and fluviatile shells they can 
meet with, and view with rapture or complacency their burnished surfaces in the 
museum. Who can fail to admire the gaudy or lovely hues of certain shells 
which vie in splendour with the feathered and vegetable gems of tropical climes, 
or with the precious stones so prized in every land ? Where is the man of taste 
who can “notice and not admire the elegant forms of others, and the almost 
endlessly-diversified shapes presented by these singular domiciles, and the variety 
of purposes to which they are adapted ? But the mere collector or admirer who 
flatters himself that he is a naturalist , grossly deceives himself. The pursuit, 
however, is innocent and pleasing in itself, and therefore useful; and it may lead 
to something better. It has, further, this advantage, that rare shells are thereby 
occasionally obtained which might otherwise have remained unnoticed. But 
beauty, rather than rarity, is the principle aim of all such collectors, and science 
can scarcely be said to benefit from their exertions. Dr. Fleming very judici¬ 
ously unites the shelled and the shell-less animals under his class Mollusca , and 
writes with no view of presenting the reader with a conchologist’s vade mecum. 
Such books may already be procured in abundance. 
Molluscous animals are divided, according to their haunts, into three groups, 
termed terrestrial, fluviatile, and marine. The land mollusca belong exclusively 
to the order Gasteropoda , as Snails, &c.; some frequenting open pastures, others 
preferring the rubbish of old walls, while many reside in woods and among 
