Bivalve shell

Venus guineensis was included in the Supplement to Testacea Britannica (1808, p. 48) on the basis of a shell from Scotland collected by Laskey. The shell in RAMM is labelled as from Weymouth and is probably the shell mentioned on page 168 where Montagu noted a small shell from the Bryeran cabinet collected from Weymouth. This species comes from the West Indies.

In January 2020 the Montagu Collection was awarded Designated status by Arts Council England. This mark of distinction recognises the collection’s international significance to the scientific community - it is the most intact and taxonomically important collection of British shells of the early 19th century (1800-1816) to be found anywhere in the UK.