The Conchologist's First Book / A System of Testaceous Malacology, Arranged Expressly for the Use of Schools, in Which the Animals, According to Cuvier, Are Given With the Shells, a Great Number of New Species Added, and the Whole Brought Up, as Accurately as Possible, to the Present Condition of the Science.

by Edgar Allan Poe; Thomas Brown

Transcriber’s Note:

The cover image was created by the transcriber and is placed in the public domain.

THE
CONCHOLOGIST’S FIRST BOOK:
A
SYSTEM
OF
TESTACEOUS MALACOLOGY,
Arranged expressly for the use of Schools,
IN WHICH
THE ANIMALS, ACCORDING TO CUVIER, ARE GIVEN WITH THE SHELLS,
A GREAT NUMBER OF NEW SPECIES ADDED,
AND THE WHOLE BROUGHT UP, AS ACCURATELY AS POSSIBLE, TO THE PRESENT CONDITION OF THE SCIENCE.

BY EDGAR A. POE.

SECOND EDITION.

WITH ILLUSTRATIONS OF TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTEEN SHELLS, PRESENTING A CORRECT TYPE OF EACH GENUS.

PHILADELPHIA:

PUBLISHED FOR THE AUTHOR, BY

HASWELL, BARRINGTON, AND HASWELL,

AND FOR SALE BY THE PRINCIPAL BOOKSELLERS IN THE UNITED STATES.

1840.

Entered according to act of Congress, in the year 1839, by Edgar A. Poe, in the clerk’s office for the eastern district of Pennsylvania.

Printed by

Haswell, Barrington, and Haswell.

PREFACE
TO THE FIRST EDITION.

The term “Malacology,” an abbreviation of “Malacozoology,” from the Greek μαλακος, soft, ζωον, an animal, and λογος, a discourse, was first employed by the French naturalist De Blainville to designate an important division of Natural History, in which the leading feature of the animals discussed was the softness of the flesh, or, to speak with greater accuracy, of the general envelop. This division comprehends not only the Mollusca, but also the Testacea of Aristotle and of Pliny, and, of course, had reference to molluscous animals in general—of which the greater portion have shells.

A treatise concerning the shells, exclusively, of this greater portion, is termed, in accordance with general usage, a Treatise upon Conchology or Conchyliology; although the word is somewhat improperly applied, as the Greek conchylion, from which it is derived, embraces in its signification both the animal and shell. Ostracology would have been more definite.

The common works upon this subject, however, will appear to every person of science very essentially defective, inasmuch as the relation of the animal and shell, with their dependence upon each other, is a radically important consideration in the examination of either. Neither, in the attempt to obviate this difficulty, is a work upon Malacology at large necessarily included. Shells, it is true, form, and, for many obvious reasons, will continue to form, the subject of chief interest, whether with regard to the school or the cabinet; still there is no good reason why a book upon Conchology (using the common term) may not be malacological as far as it proceeds.

In this view of the subject the present little work is offered to the public. Beyond the ruling feature—that of giving an anatomical account of each animal, together with a description of the shell which it inhabits,—I have aimed at little more than accuracy and simplicity, as far as the latter quality can be thought consistent with the rigid exactions of science.

No attention has been given to the mere History of the subject; it is conceived that any disquisition on this head would more properly appertain to works of ultimate research, than to one whose sole intention is to make the pupil acquainted, in as tangible a form as possible, with results. To afford, at a cheap rate, a concise, yet sufficiently comprehensive, and especially a well illustrated school-book, has been the principal design.

In conclusion, I have only to acknowledge my great indebtedness to the valuable public labors, as well as private assistance, of Mr. Isaac Lea, of Philadelphia. To Mr. Thomas Wyatt, and his late excellent Manual of Conchology, I am also under many obligations. No better work, perhaps, could be put into the hands of the student as a secondary text book. Its beautiful and perfectly well-coloured illustrations afford an aid in the collection of a cabinet scarcely to be met with elsewhere.

E. A. P.

PREFACE
TO THE SECOND EDITION.

In issuing a second edition of this “Conchology,” in so very brief a period since the publication of the first large impression, the author has little more to do than to express the high pleasure with which he has seen his labors well received. The success of the work has been decided; and the entire design has been accomplished in its general introduction into schools.

Many important alterations and additions are now made; errors of the press carefully corrected; many more recently discovered American species added; and the work, upon the whole, is rendered more worthy the public approbation.

E. A. P.