William Swainson (1789-1855) and his shell collections

Abstract

As was usual during the period in which he worked, roughly from 1820 to 1840, Swainson accumulated large collections and many of his new species were described from specimens in his possession. Unfortunately, his collections have been widely dispersed and much fruitless effort has been expended in the search for the type material of his many species. Although Swainson wrote of almost the whole zoological kingdom in the twelve volumes of the Cabinet cyclopaedia his main interests lay in birds and molluscs and it is the latter I now discuss.