preface. 
vsii 
n umber of which is daily lessening. We ma\\ : 
hope to escape a sort of sneer by another mo» .. 
writer*, of “ indulging ourselves in a conjecture 
only on plates.” 
Such as we have examined in a living state, are 
marked v . v. (vidimus vivam) ; and those which 
have been examined in a dead state only, v+ 
(vidhmis mortuam ). 
In the figures which accompany this work, it was 
our wish to have presented all which we had con¬ 
sidered as new acquisitions; but the nature of the 
intention would in some measure have been frus¬ 
trated, by the representation of minute objects; as 
our design, in tins respect, was chiefly explanatory/ 
Every species which has hitherto been found in 
the British Islands, we have thought it proper to 
record, leaving to individual collectors their own 
ideas of purity as to patriotal adoption. 
The practical conchologist will make himself 
acquainted with all the most probable habitats 
his object. With dredgers and trawlers he w • 
carefully examine the produce of their toils, eve. * 
the pieces of perforated rocks or timber which may 
be brought up. The sea shores; the undersurfaces 
of loose stones ; the minutest crevices of rocks 
which may be uncovered at low water; the mouths 
of rivers and their soils, especially when laid bare 
by the recess of the tide ; sandy coves and inlets,bt 
the ocean ; fine or drifted sand ; sea weeds, with 
their roots ; all marine refuse ; floating timber, 
and the bottom of vessels ; and even the stomachs 
of fish. 
* Mat on, Descriptive Catalogue, p. 56. 
The 
