1864.] REVIEW. 69 



'' The number of species of fossils displayed in the Museum is 

 about 1500. Figures engraved on wood of 543 of the more 

 characteristic of these, are given in the present volume. These 

 are chiefly by Mr. J. H. Walker of Montreal, with a few by Mr. 

 A. W. Graham and Mr. G. G. Vasey ; the wliole from excellent 

 drawings by Mr. H. S. Smith. With a few exceptions, the species 

 here figured are distinct from those which have already been given 

 in the Decades of Canadian Organic Remains, published by the 

 Survey. Of these, I, III, and lY have appeared, and it is expected 

 that Decade II, already referred to, will shortly be published. For 

 the descriptions of Decade I we are indebted to Mr. J. W. Salter, 

 palaeontologist to the Geological Survey of the United Kingdom. 

 It contains twenty-one species from the Birdseye and Black River 

 formation, the figures of which are drawn by Mr. C. R. Bone, and 

 engraved by Mr. W. Sowerby. Decade II will contain fifty-one 

 species of graptolitidce, by Prof. James Hall of Albany. Decade 

 III contains twenty-nine species of Lower Silurian cystideae and 

 asteridae, described by Mr. Billings, and one species of cyclocys- 

 toides, by Messrs. Salter and Billings ; with fourteen species of 

 Lower Silurian bivalved entomostraca, by Mr. T. Rupert Jones, 

 of the Geological Society of London. The figures are drawn on 

 stone by Messrs. C. R. Bone, J. Dinkle, Tufien West, G. West, 

 and H. S. Smith. Decade IV contains forty-three species of 

 Lower Silurian crinoidea, described by Mr. Billings ; the figures 

 drawn on stone by Mr. H. S. Smith, and printed by Mr. G. Mat- 

 thews of Montreal. As already stated, Mr. Billings has described 

 altogether 526 species of fossils. Those not included in the 

 Decades have been published in the Canadian Journal of Toronto ; 

 the Canadian Naturalist and Geologist of Montreal ; in the Annual 

 Reports, and in the volume entitled Palaeozoic Fossils of Canada, 

 published by the Survey. 



" In the collection of the Survey there are probably at the 

 present time about 500 species of fossils still remaining unde- 

 scribed. The publication of these will be an additional contribu- 

 tion to the general fund of palasontological knowledge ; to which, 

 as it has been of great utility in our own investigations, we are 

 bound to add what we can for the benefit of others. But inde- 

 pendent of the instruction derived from fossils as guides to our- 

 selves, and proofs to others in regard to the succession of our rocks, 

 there is a higher consideration attached to them than their mere 



