Geological Society. 149 



quarters that distinction which his superior knowledge and personal 

 character and deportment justly deserve. With a view to enable 

 him to devote a larger portion of time to the study of fossil 

 Ichthyology in Great Britain, the Association for the Advancement 

 of Science voted to him at Edinburgh the sum of 100/. During 

 his subsequent excursions in various parts of England and Ireland 

 he had ample opportunities of visiting whatever collections have 

 been made in that department of natural history to which he devotes 

 himself; and every one was happy to transmit to our apartments 

 at his request any specimens which he wished to figure. In the 

 very short space of time to which his stay in this country was 

 necessarily confined, M. Agassiz was enabled to add to the very 

 large number of species which he had already examined, no less 

 than two hundred that were entirely new to him ; these were placed, 

 immediately as they arrived, in the hands of an artist from Neufcha- 

 tel, acting under M. Agassiz's direction. Such are the facilities 

 and advantages which Associations like ours supply to those whom 

 our motto designates as true sons of science! 



Sir Philip Egerton has drawn out for us a Catalogue of a rich Col- 

 lection of Specimens formed by himself and Lord Cole in the caves 

 of Franconia and the Hartz Mountains. In the cavern at Galenreuth, 

 now closed against visitors, it was their good fortune to obtain several 

 bones of the fossil bear, which the late Baron Cuvier required to com- 

 plete the skeleton of that animal. Many of them appear to have been 

 scratched, but none gnawed. In all these caverns, recent bones re- 

 ferrible to various animals, accompany the fossil ; and in some of 

 them have been found old coins, iron implements, and fragments of 

 rude pottery. 



To a work which I shall have occasion to bring under your notice 

 hereafter, Mr. Broderip, our Vice-President, has appended a Table, 

 showing the situation and depth at which the different genera of shells 

 are found in seas and estuaries. The importance of such a table* 

 though professedly incomplete, must be evident to you all; and I hope 

 we shall receive from the same quarter further proofs of the advantage 

 which our science is capable of receiving by allying itself with prac- 

 tical zoology. One of my predecessors has adverted to various cir- 

 cumstances which may determine different fossils to different loca- 

 lities, producing an abundant supply in one place, and a comparative 

 dearth in another. In this point of view, Mr. Broderip's table will 

 be found of great use. By referring to it we discover at once what 

 genera in the present creation are confined to shallows; what genera 

 are to be expected at depths varying from a few feet to three or 

 four hundred, and even more: which are those that attach them- 

 selves to marine plants, drifted wood, coral, Crustacea, loose stones, or 

 rocks ; perforate the shells of other animals, coral, wood, or arena- 

 ceous and calcareous deposits ; or dwell on beds of mud or sand. 

 A knowledge of the habits of recent Testacea must materially assist 

 our investigations into the habits of corresponding fossil genera. 



The Geographical Range of different fossil Animals is a subject of 

 great interest, coinciding as it must do with the range of those con- 



