This blog follows on from my discovery of a bird collected by the great naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace. This time I’m taking a look at some shells.
shells
The Montagu collection of molluscs receives Designation award from Arts Council England in recognition of its international importance to science.
![Colour photograph of two white snail shells in a small cardboard box with a handwritten label. The label reads: Alexandri Gray Namaqualand This is the only state in which this extremely rare shell has been sought out as far as I know. I saw Sir J[ames] Alexander’s & this was bought by [James] Chapman the Traveller.](https://rammcollections.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/1720-1909-d2-143-1-300x214.jpg)
Miss Linter’s collection of exotic land snail shells is of considerable significance. Yet, for a long time researchers believed it was sold after her death and lost to science. At the start of 2019 RAMM’s Natural Science Curator and colleagues at National Museum Wales and the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences published an introductory paper on the scope and importance of the collection and the fascinating lady behind it.
New research locates type mollusc material belonging to Colonel George Montagu at RAMM and Natural History Museum