Pvn H,i I'UitlS

ASTARTE. 309
The shell of Astarte is a symbol of change; and
although the genus may be distinguished from others,
this cannot be said of the species inter se. I do not
know a more puzzling study. What is true of the pic-
torial art is equally applicable to the science of classi-
fication in natural history. Ruskin treats the matter
thus
"
: Nearly all the gradations of nature are so
subtle, and between degrees of tint so slightly separated,
that no human hand can in any wise equal, or do any-
the idea of them." So it is
thing more than to suggest
with the forms of organic nature. A net of chainwork
conveys a very inadequate idea of the intricate way in
which all these forms are intermingled and blend one
with another. No method of systematic arrangement
that is possible for the wit of man to devise will serve to
decipher this complicated mystery. To read for the first
time a cuneiform inscription is mere child's play compared
with the solution of this enigma. All that we
can do is to observe carefully, and with fit reverence,
the works of our Creator, and to record faithfullv those
observations for the instruction or gratification of the
present and future generations. One cause of
difficulty
in discriminating the species of Astarte has happily been
removed. This consisted in the inner margin of the
shell being notched in some kinds, and plain in others
which could not else be distinguished.
Recluz in 1844
eliminated this supposed mark of specific difference by
uniting the A. triangularis
and A. minutissima of Mon-
tagu ; Turton had more than twenty years previously
noticed that A. sulcata and A. Scotica presented only
the same criterion of separation ;
and Forbes and Han-
ley confirmed the justice of that remark by showing
that these last two so-called species were identical. It
has been for some time the prevalent opinion that the