Rudiments of Conchology / Intended as a familiar introduction to the science.

by Mary Anne Venning

"I shall first endeavour to make you acquainted with the system of Linnæus; it is easily learned, and you should be familiar with it, as it is still adopted by some writers on conchology.

"But in order to understand my instructions, you must have a clear idea of the terms that I use in describing a shell; now, therefore, give me your attention while I explain some of those terms to you.

Plate 2.

Page 8.

TERMS FOR
PARTS OF
MULTIVALVES.

"To begin with the first division, Multivalves. There is a group of Lepades, it is the species called goose-barnacle, of which so many strange and silly tales have been told in former times. ([Plate 2], Lepas anatifera.) This species is furnished with a kind of stem, like a bladder, and is called the peduncle, (c) and is fastened to other bodies. The feelers (d) are feathery projections, which the animal keeps in continual motion, for the purpose of catching its food. Here is a group of another kind; ([Plate 2], Lepas tintinnabulum;) these are without a peduncle, and are called sessile. The base (a) is that part of the shell by which it is fixed to other bodies: (a) the operculum is formed of four small valves on the summit. (b).