Note 14 — CONCHOLOGY. PLATE XXI. VOLUTA PYRUM PEAR VOLUTE. Front View. Univalve.

The Hindoos entertain the belief of a general deluge, not very dissimilar to that of the Mosaic records. They admit, however, many such catastrophes of the earth, and subsequent renovations through the creative power of this attribute of Brahma, which they denominate Vishnu. The Chank Shell refers to a deluge of the earth, anterior to that which seems to accord with the sacred writ. The deliverance of the earth from the Mosaic deluge they term the lotos creation, the type of which is the expanded flower of the lotos, the indian pedma emerging above the surface of the waters with Vishnu seated in its centre.