Abstract
FIFTY years ago, conchology was a hobby both in Europe and America, and most large seaside towns had societies for its study. The infinite variety and the beauty of the shells were their attractions, and it was not unusual to pay several pounds for a prime specimen. Now shells are recognised as a part of the complex of every coast, often governing factors in its formation. This rewritten book of Josiah Keep, originally published in 1881, is ‘tuned up’ to a new conchology that may well some day be as popular as the old. Oysters, razors, limpets, borers, burrowers, clams, etc., as titles of chapters indicate its key, and the technique of their consideration is both simple and scientific. British natural historians may well read it, for on the coasts of Britain dwell each of the above groups, but such would be well advised to take old Keep's advice: “While you admire their lovely shells, think even more of the quiet and pleasant lives they spend in their ocean home”.
West Coast Shells:
a Description in Familiar Terms of the Principal Marine, Fresh-water and Land Mollusks of the United States, British Columbia and Alaska, found west of the Sierra. By Josiah Keep. Revised by Joshua L. Baily, Jr. Pp. xi + 350. (Stanford University, Calif.: Stanford University Press; London: Oxford University Press, 1935.) 17s. net.
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West Coast Shells. Nature 136, 1010 (1935). https://doi.org/10.1038/1361010c0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/1361010c0