Extravagant Price of Works on Natural History. 265 



the greensand is in itself by no means extensive, its scarcity 

 of substance is fully compensated for by its abundance of 

 organic remains; among which may be enumerated several 

 species of Terebratulae, O'streae, Dentalia, Ammonites, iVau- 

 tilus, Belemnites, and other shells, together with vertebrae, 

 bones, and teeth of sharks and other fishes, mingled occa- 

 sionally with fragments of Crustacea. Saurian remains are 

 comparatively rare, but teeth and bones of the crocodile have 

 been found. 



The substances under consideration occur in considerable 

 abundance, and may be considered as highly characteristic of 

 this bed wherever it occurs in the neighbourhood. Their 

 colour is generally black or light brown ; and all of them, for 

 the most part, exhibit external as well as internal traces of 

 organisation, being penetrated transversely by white streaks 

 of a peculiar character. They vary very much in shape and 

 size, though none of them are very large. Some of the forms 

 they assume closely resemble those of faecal substances ; a 

 few are occasionally met with containing scales, while others 

 enclose shells and corals : indeed, many resemble decayed 

 madrepores, and some have an appearance like that of wood 

 or bone. It seems difficult, however, to account for their exact 

 nature, number, and eccentricity of the forms which they 

 assume. I think, however, there can be no doubt as to their 

 identity with those of Folkstone, though occurring there in a 

 different stratum. This fact is certainly interesting, though 

 none are found in the gault at Cambridge, which contains 

 fossils sparingly disseminated over its upper part, but they 

 are more numerous in the lower. As I do not, however, 

 attempt to determine what they are, I shall conclude these 

 partial observations by mentioning their occurrence in two 

 distant localities. — London, Jan. 23. 1836. 



Art. X. Retrospective Criticism. 



Mr. C. T. Wood's Remarks on the extravagant Price of 

 Works on Subjects of Natural History, (p. 213 — 216.) — We 

 are told, in p. 216., that " none but the public can be blamed 

 for the continuance of the grievance. As long as individuals 

 will continue to purchase at any price the booksellers choose 

 to ask, so long will they be obliged to be cheated of half their 

 money's value ; but, if they will apply through the proper 

 sources, they will be enabled to double or triple their literary 

 meal with the same money." Now, I by no means dispute 

 the high price of the works alluded to: whether or not they 



