PREFACE. XIX 



frequently, as probably to have excited surprise in those ac- 

 customed to consult the more modern of the British Faunas. 

 He was led to adopt this course, not for the purpose of fill- 

 ing up the chasms in the fancied laws of continuity, but that 

 the attention of zoologists may be directed to an examina- 

 tion of the extinct races, and that the geologist may connect 

 with his studies a knowledge of the character and distribution 

 of existing species. The evils which have arisen from the want 

 of this union between zoology and geology, are too obvious to 

 require any eomment. The neglect of the fossil species first 

 appeared in the writings of Mr Pennant, who took no notice 

 of the numerous fossil species of shells and echinodermata, 

 which, before the commencement of his labours, had been satis- 

 factorily established. Lister (to whom we owe the discovery 

 that organic remains are distributed according to a plan, and 

 that certain rocks may be chax-acterised by their imbedded fos- 

 sils, or that the distribution of organic remains, like the order 

 of superposition of the strata, is regulated by fixed laws) per- 

 ceived the importance of connecting a knowledge of the charac- 

 ters of the existing and fossil species, and exhibited the union 

 in his Historia Animalium Angliae. Under the protection of 

 such authority, the author of this treatise is fearless of censure. 

 He even confidently believes, that if the example of Lister 

 had been followed by succeeding contributors to the British 

 Fauna, geology would have presented at this day an aspect of 

 far greater maturity and interest. Even the characters of the 

 fossil species of plants attracted the attention of the early ob- 

 servers, and led Da Costa to " recommend to the curious in 

 botany, to take notice of them as an Appendix Plantarum ad- 

 huc incognita-rum? (Phil. Trans. 50, 231.) But this advice 

 has not been followed ; for the student may search in vain the 

 published Introductions to Botany, or the various Floras which 

 have appeared, and fail to meet with even a hint to inform 

 him that the various strata afford remains of extinct species of 

 plants. 



In reference to Fossil Shells, the author has chiefly quoted 

 the specific characters given in the Mineral Conchology of Mr 

 Sowerby. This work is of great value in the facilities which 



