Testacea Britannica; or, British shells / [George Montagu].

  • George Montagu
Date:
1803-1808
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Testacea Britannica; or, British shells / [George Montagu]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    tenfive ; not confined to the clofet, but have drawn the hidden treafures from their native fites. The defcriptions are as concife as pofiible, confident w^ith the neceffity of giving a full and perfeft idea of each fpecies; and figures are given of fuch only as are en- tirely new, or have not appeared in any englifh work, except in fuch cafes where it was thought requifite for the purpofe of comparifon.* To which, in many in- ftances, is added a fhort defcription of the animal in- habitant, a circumftance of no fmall importance in aid of difcriminating fome nearly allied fpecies; though of no generic ufe in conchology. An attention to this alone, could have induced us to refer, in many inftan- ces to Muller. The fynonyms are drawn from fome of the bed au- thors, and mod topographical writers omitted, except in a few cafes, where the objefts were in obfcurity. b 2 Should * As it was impoflible to>be aware of the extent of Mr. Donovan’s cabi- net, or of the (hells he intended to figure, duplicates will unavoidably occur in a few inftances in our work, as fome of the plates were engraved when lit- tle more than two volumes of that publication had made its appearance. Some fpecies alfo originally intended to have been given in this work, have been anticipated by Mr Donovan, and thereby we are enabled to refer to good figures to illtrilrate our intentions, without multiplying reprefenta<-ions of the fame fubjedls.
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