528 HISTORY OF SYSTEMS. 



It is difficult for us to perceive wherein Cuvier had bene- 

 fitted from Lamarck in drawing up this arrangement, as 

 Deshayes affirms, for its merits and improvements depend 

 exclusively on the choice of characters for the main sections ; 

 and he had recourse to Lamarck only for the indication of 

 the sub-genera. We need not tarry to point out the im- 

 provements here effected, for they will be obvious on a com- 

 parison with the previous synopsis ; nor need I detain you 

 with any notice of the crude and useless compilations of 

 Bosc and of Denis Montfort — the latter the very Baron 

 Munchausen of conchologists. M. de Roissy deserves, how- 

 ever, honourable mention, for his jiopular and well-executed 

 continuation of the volumes of Buffon contributed to diffuse 

 a knowledge and taste for our science. He neither invented 

 a method nor created genera, but he was the first who at- 

 tempted to complete Cuvier's system by intercalating, in 

 their fit places, the genera of Lamarck. He annotated each 

 of them with concise explanations ; he occasionally set forth 

 new views of their relations, and he added useful notices of 

 the animal inhabitants, — all done with clearness and sagacity. 

 Cuvier had just established a new order under the name of 

 Pteropodes, embracing the genera Clio, Hyal^ea, Pneunio- 

 dernia, and the Firoles ; and M, de Roissy hastened to adopt 

 the order, placing it, at the suggestions of Cuvier, between 

 the Cephalopods and Gasteropods. Henceforth the Hyalaca 

 was withdrawn from the vicinage of the Terebratula and 

 Anomia, where both Cuvier and Lamarck had misplaced 

 it, before the former became acquainted with its anatomy. 



While Cuvier was thus pursuing his researches into the 

 structure of the Mollusca, Lamarck's activity carried him in 

 a different direction to study the fossils of the environs of 

 Paris. His memoirs on these contain the descriptions of 

 many new sj)ecies, and are enriched with valuable observa- 

 tions on each genus. He discovered some new genera, 

 amongst which we may specify the Clavagella, important as 

 a link in connecting the Aspergillum with the acephalous 

 molkisks that possess a calcareous tube. A zealous collector 

 who had, with much perseverance, brought together the fos- 

 sils of Grignon and other places, aided the work in placing 

 his rich and beautiful collection at Lamarck's disposal. M. 

 Defrance was the first, and then the only, naturalist who 

 interested himself, in a scientific manner, with the fossils of 

 the basin of Paris ; and it is to his preliminary labours that 

 the authors of the Geology of that basin are indebted for 

 the well-determined lists of fossils on which their theory of 

 its production is based. 



