1855.] Linnean Society. 407 



not at this period limit bis investigations to purely geological sub- 

 jects. His first paper in tbe ' Transactions of tbe Geological Society,' 

 written in conjunction witb ]\Ir. Conybeare, is entitled " On the 

 Discovery of a new Fossil Animal \_Plesiosaurus], forming a link 

 between the Ichthyosaurus and Crocodile, together with general 

 remarks on the Osteology of the Ichthyosaurus ; " and this was fol- 

 lowed by a long series of important communications, among which 

 papers on the Geology " Of the South Coast of England, from Brid- 

 port Harbour, Dorset, to Babbicombe Bay, Devon ;" " Of the Coast 

 of France from Fecamp to St. Vaast ;" " Of Southern Pembroke- 

 shire ;" "Of Jamaica;" " Of the Environs of Nice ;" " On the Lias 

 of the Coast in the vicinity of Lyme Regis ;" and " On the Chalk 

 and Greensand" of the same vicinity, are the most remarkable. 

 Between 1826 and 1830 he also communicated several papers to the 

 'Annals of Philosophy' and to the 'Philosophical Magazine.' His 

 first separate publication was a " Selection of Geological Memoirs 

 from the ' Annales des Mines,' with a Table of Equivalent Forma- 

 tions," &c., 8vo. London, 1824; and this was succeeded in 1830 by 

 ' Geological Notes,' and in the following year by a ' Geological 

 Manual,' which speedily ran through three editions, and was imme- 

 diately translated both into French and German. Two other works, 

 published in 1834 and 1835, ' Researches in Theoretical Geology,' 

 and ' How to observe in Geology,' were also translated into both 

 languages ; and the latter grew, fifteen years later, into a ponderous 

 volume of 850 pages, under the title of ' The Geological Observer,' 

 of which a second edition was published in 1853, and which is uni- 

 versally regarded as one of the most valuable elementary works on 

 the science. Having inherited a family estate in the island of 

 Jamaica, which he visited in the year 1824, Mr. De la Beche was 

 enabled to attach himself entirely to his favourite pursuit. He asso- 

 ciated himself with the officers of the Trigonometrical Survey, then 

 engaged in surveying the three western counties, and for several 

 years, almost entirely at his own expense, devoted himself to the 

 task of laying down the geological features of those counties on the 

 Ordnance Maps. In 1832 he first brought under the notice of the 

 Government the important advantages that would accrue to the 

 public from connecting a Geological Survey with the Geographical ; 

 and in 1835 he suggested the formation of an illustrative Collection. 

 Both suggestions were adopted, and he became the Director of the 

 Geological Survey, and also of the small Collection temporarily 

 placed in Craig's Court, which subsequently expanded into the ex- 

 tensive establishment, the Museum of Practical Geology, now located 



