Book Description

Excerpt from American Marine Conchology: Or Descriptions and Coloured Figures of the Shells of the Atlantic Coast of North America The following work is designed to supply a deficiency which has long been felt by the cultivators of American Natural History; for while the quadrupeds and birds of our country have been described and figured with great fidelity and elegance, some other branches of Zoology have experienced comparative neglect. Among these is Conchology, a science replete with interesting details, whether we examine the seemingly innumerable characters of the shells themselves, or turn our attention to the organized beings which inhabit them. It is proposed, however, to limit the present undertaking to the Marine Shells inhabiting the coast of North America; inasmuch as several able naturalists, especially Messrs. Say and Lea, are now occupied with our fresh water and land shells, the results of whose labours will doubtless supply all that may be requisite in these departments. The North American sea shells have received more or less attention from nearly all the systematic writers on Conchology: many of the species were familiar to Linnaeus; others were first noticed by Lamarck; and Mr. Say, with his usual industry, has described a considerable number. The periodical publications of this country and of Europe contain various additional notices, and the interests of science seem now to require, that all these scattered details should be embodied in a systematic form, with corrections and additions suited to the present state of our knowledge. The great attention which has been of late years given to Conchology, has necessarily removed much of the obscurity and corrected many of the errors of this science. Numerous shells which were formerly supposed to be different in specific characters, are now proved to be identical; while others which were published as new, are found to have been well known to our predecessors. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works."