(f 
PREFACE. 
The elegance and simplicity in the contour or 
shape of shells, the richness and variety of their 
colors, and the singularity in many of their forms, 
have ever excited attention to this confined but in¬ 
teresting department of created nature : and the 
comparative facility with which they may be col¬ 
lected and arranged, together with the durability of 
their structure, make them peculiarly adapted "for 
the display of a cabinet. Their uses, however, have 
not been entirely confined to the gaze of curiosity, 
or to fanciful embellishment. The inhabitants "of 
many of them give a rich and nutritious food. The 
greater part of the lime used in America, for agri¬ 
cultural and architectural purposes, is made of cal¬ 
cined shells: the public streets of Christtaustadt 
and Santa Cruz, are paved with the Strombus 
Gigas; and the town of Conchyiion is entirely 
built of marine shells. The blue and white belts 
of the Indians of North America, as symbols of 
peace and amity, in opposition to the war hatchet, 
and by which the fate of nations is often decided, 
are made of the~Venus mercenaria; and the gorget 
of the chieftain’s war-dress is formed of the Mvil¬ 
lus margaritiferus.' The military horn of many 
African tribes is the Murex Tritonis ; the rare va¬ 
riety of which, with the volutions reversed, is held 
b sacred, 
