HARDWICKE' S SCI ENCE-G OSSJP. 



273 



life to the study of the carboniferous corals of his 

 native country. His industry has been most remark- 

 able, and the results of the highest zoological value. 

 Besides adding and describing many new genera and 

 species to the long list previously known, Mr. 

 Thomson has worked out the life-histories of many 

 forms from the ovum to the adult and even senile 



thinking, that if they could be collected and pub- 

 lished (with their abundant and highly-finished plates) 

 in one volume, they would be a great boon to 

 students of this branch of palaeontology all over the 

 world. Among the most important of these papers 

 which have appeared within the last five years are 

 the following : — " Description of a New Genus (Ku- 



Fig. 170. — Carcinophyllum Kirsojtiana. 



171. — Alveolites (enlarged). 



state. He has shown how the so-called species and 

 even genera merge imperceptibly one into the other. 

 Indeed, we know of no other series of contributions 

 to invertebrate palaeontology which bear out more 

 Fully the great doctrine of evolution. 



Mr. Thomson's papers are scattered through a 

 large number of magazines, as well as the Transactions, 

 &c, of various learned societies ; but we cannot help 



matiophyllum), and "several New Species of Rugose 

 Corals, from the Carboniferous Limestone of Scot- 

 land," "On a New Genus (Albertia) of Rugose 

 Corals," from ditto; " Contributions to our Know- 

 ledge of the Rugose Corals," from ditto ; " On the 

 genera Alveolites, Amplexus, and Zaphrentis," from 

 ditto ; " A New Family of Rugose Corals, including 

 the genera Cyclophyllum, Aulophyllum, and on the 



