These words are derived from the Latin, _unus_—one, _bi_—two, _multus_—many, and therefore it may at once be seen that they apply to shells having one, two, or several pieces or divisions. Valve comes from the Latin _valva_, and means a folding door, a lid, a piece moving on a hinge, as the divisions in several of these shells do. This order of arrangement is generally followed by those who make a collection of shells for a cabinet; and to this we shall adhere as at once the most simple and convenient, when we come to describe the several species of testaceous mollusks. We will now say a few words on TAKING AND PRESERVING SHELLS. A diligent searcher along any beach or coast line, will be sure sometimes to light upon curious and valuable specimens, and especially after violent storms may such be sought for, with the greatest chance of success, for the agitation of the waters will then have loosened them from their natural beds and dwelling-places, and cast them on the shore. Very frequently, however, they will be so beaten about and defaced, that they will be comparatively valueless; if enveloped in tangled masses of sea-weed, they are likely to be preserved from injury; and such heaps of uprooted marine vegetation will often afford a rich harvest to the young conchologist, who should always carefully examine them. Many of the shells are so minute as scarcely to be seen with the naked eye, therefore this search can scarcely be properly effected without the assistance of a pocket lens, the cost of which is but trifling. The undersides of pieces of stranded timber, the bottoms of boats lately returned from a fishing voyage, the fisherman’s dredge or net, the cable, and the deep-sea line; all these may prove productive, and should be looked to whenever opportunity offers; nor should the search for land and fresh-water shells be neglected, for many of these are very curious, as well as beautiful, and no conchological collection is complete without them. For these, the best hunting grounds are the ditch side and the river bed, the mossy bank and the hedge-row; amid the twining, serpent-like roots of the old thorn and elder trees; the crevices of the garden wall, the undersides of stones, and all sorts of out-of-the-way holes, nooks, and corners, where may be found the Striped Zebra, and other prettily-marked snail shells, and many other kinds worthy of a place in— THE CABINET;