Malacology Archaeology employs malacology to understand the evolution of the climate, the biota of the area, and the usage of the site. In 1681, Filippo Bonanni wrote the first book ever published that was solely about seashells, the shells of marine mollusks. The book was entitled: "Ricreatione dell' occhio e dela mente nell oservation' delle Chiociolle, proposta a' curiosi delle opere della natura, &c." In 1868, the German Malacological Society was founded. Zoological methods are used in malacological research. Malacological field methods and laboratory methods (such as collecting, documenting and archiving, and molecular techniques) were summarized by Sturm et al. (2006).
Earthly Branches Earthly Branches, which is somewhat similar to the modern-day practice of English-speaking pilots using "o'clock" for directions. Since 12 points were not enough for sailing, 12 midpoints were added. Instead of combining two adjacent direction names, they assigned new names: The 24 directions are: Advanced mariners such as Zheng He used 48-point compasses. An additional midpoint was called by a combination of its two closest basic directions, such as ("bǐngwǔ") for the direction of 172.5°, the midpoint between ("bǐng"), 165°, and ("wǔ"), 180°. Earthly Branches The twelve Earthly Branches or Terrestrial Branches are an ordering system used throughout East Asia