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gular, and deeply ftriated cardia. Even all the land-hells were in this collection, from the pomatia to the round-mouthed turbo. The moft beautiful genera of the fea-fhells, intermixed with foffil corals of all the kinds, with animal fubftances become foffil; and with copper-ores, agates, pebbles, pieces of the finest marmora and alabastritæ, and the moft elegant and beautiful marcafites, and chryftals, and fpars. These filled the greatest part of the walls, and in claffes, here and there, were scattered, as foils to raise the luftre of the others, the inferior fhells.

Among the fimple fea-fhells, that is, thofe of one hell, without a hinge, I saw feveral rare ones, that were neither in Mrs. O'Hara's, nor in Mrs. Crafton's grottos in Fingal, as I obferved to thofe ladies (5). The fhells I mean are the following ones.

1. The

(5) I had once a fweet little country-house in the neighbourhood of thofe ladies, and ufed to be often at their gardens and grottos. Mrs. Crafton had the finest fhells, but her grott was dull and regular, and had no appearance of nature in the formation. She was a pious, plain, refined lady, but had not a fancy equal to the operation required in a fhell-house.

The excellent, the polite, the well-bred, the good and unfortunate Mrs. O'Hara, had a glorious fancy. She was a genius, and had an imagination that formed a grotto wild and charming as Calypfo's. Her fancy did likewife form the garden (in which the grotto flood, near the margin of a flood) into a paradife of delights.

Many

Fine shells.

1. The fea-trumpet, which is in its per- The Sea fect ftate nine inches long, an inch and Trumpet. half diameter at its mouth or irregular lip, and the opening at the fmall end about half an inch. The furface is a beautiful brown, prettily spotted with white, and the pipe has fourteen annular ridges that are a little elevated, and of a fine purple colour.

miral.

2. The admiral is vaftly beautiful, a vo- The Adluta two inches and a half long, and an inch in diameter, at the head, from whence it decreases to a cone with an obtufe point. The ground colour is the brighteft, elegant yellow, finer than that of Sienna marble, and this ground fo variegated with the

Many a pleafing, folitary hour, have I paffed in this charming place; and all at laft I faw in ruins; the garden in diforder-and every fine fhell torn from the grotto.

Such are the changes and chances of this first flate; changes wifely defigned by providence as warnings not to fet up our reft here: that we may turn our hearts from this world, and with all our might labour for that life which shall never perish.

What ruined Mrs. O'Hara's grotto deprived me of my little green and fhady retreat. Charles O'Hara, this lady's husband, a ftrange man, from whom I rented my pretty farm, and to whom I had paid a fine to lower the rent, had mortgaged it, unknown to me, to the famous Damer, and that powerful man fwallowed all. All I had there was feized for arrears of interest due of Mr. O'Hara ; and as I was ever liable to diftraining, I took my leave of Fingall.

brighteft

The Crown

brightest colours, that a little more than a third part of the ground is feen. Broad fafciæ, the most charmingly varied, furround it, and the clavicle is the moft elegant of objects in colours, brightness, and irregularities. There is a punctuated line of variations that runs in the centre of the yellow fascia, and is wonderfully pretty. This beautiful Eaft Indian fells at a great price.

3. The crown imperial is likewife exImperial. tremely beautiful. This voluta is four inches long, two in diameter at the top, and its head adorned with a charming series of fine tubercles, pointed at the extremities. The ground is a clear pale, and near the head and extremity of the fhell, two very beautiful zones run round. They are of the brightest yellow, and in a manner the most elegant, are variegated with black and white purple. It is an Eaft Indian.

The He

brew LetLer.

4. The Hebrew letter, another voluta, is a fine curiofity. It is two inches in length, and an inch and a quarter in diameter at the top. It is a regular conic figure, and its exerted clavicle has feveral volutions. The ground is like the white of a fine pearl, and the body all over variegated with irregular marks of black, which have a near refemblance of the Hebrew characters. This elegant fhell is an Eaft Indian.

Voluta.

5. The white voluta, with brown and The white blue and purple fpots. This very elegant fhell, whofe ground is a charming white, is found on the coaft of Guinea, from five to fix inches in length, and its diameter at the head often three inches. It tapers gradually, and at the extremity is a large obtufe. Its variegations in its, fpots are very beautiful, and its spots are principally difpofed in many circles round the fhell.

terfly.

6. The butterfly is a voluta the most ele- The Butgant of this beautiful genus. Its length is five inches in its perfection, and two and a half broad at the head. The body is an obtufe cone: the clavicle is pointed, and in feveral volutions. The ground is the finest yellow, and beautified all over with small brown spots, in regular and round feries. These variegations are exceeding pretty, and as this rare Eaft Indian fhell has befide these beauties three charming bands round the body, which are formed of large spots of a deep brown, a pale brown, and white, and resemble the spots on the wings of butterflies, it is a beautiful fpecies indeed. The animal that inhabits this fhell is a limax.

Cylinder.

7. The tulip cylinder is a very fcarce and The Tulip beautiful native of the Eaft-Indies, and in its ftate of perfection and brightness of colour, of great value. Its form is cylindric, its length four inches, and its diameter two and E a half

.

Woodcock

a half at its greatest increase. Its clavicle has many volutions, and terminates in an obtufe point. The ground colour is white, and its variegations blue and brown. They are thrown into irregular clouds in the most beautiful manner, and into fome larger and fmaller fpots. The limax inhabits this fine fhell.

I likewife faw in this grotto the finest fpecies of the purpura, the dolia, and the porcellana. There was of the first genus the thorny woodcock:-of the fecond, the harp fhell-and of the third, the argus fhell. The thorny 8. The thorny woodcock is ventricofe, and approaches to an oval figure. Its length, full grown, is five inches; the clavicle fhort, but in volutions distinct; and its roftrum from the mouth twice the length of the rest of the shell. This fnout and the body have four series of fpines, generally an inch and half long pointed at the ends, and fomewhat crooked. The fpines lie in regular, longitudinal feries. The mouth is almoft round, but the opening is continued in the form of a flit up the roftrum. The colour of this American, and extremely elegant hell, is a tawny yellow, with a fine mixture of a lively brown, and by bleaching on the coafts, it gets many fpots of white.

The Harp.

9. The beautiful karp is a Chinese; three inches and half long, and two and a half

in

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