2 FOSSIL ASTEROIDEA. 



therefore responsible. The plates which were drawn on stone have all been 

 utilised, although the specimens illustrated were not in every case those which I 

 should have selected, nor the order in which the figures are associated on some of 

 the plates that which I should have followed. This, however, is a comparatively- 

 small matter, and the remark is not intended in any way as disparaging the 

 excellence of the illustrations. Indeed, I would here bear unqualified testimony 

 to the careful and accurate way in which the fossils have been dehneated by 

 Mr. A. H. Searle. His plates are monuments of patient study of morphological 

 detail, and of exquisite technical execution as examples of lithographic drawing. 



In his Monograph on the Oolitic Asteroidea, Dr. Wright gave as an intro- 

 duction a general account of the structure of the main divisions of the Asteroidea 

 then known, recent as well as fossil, with special reference to the calcareous 

 framework ; and he also gave a summary of the difi"erent systems of classification 

 which had been formulated by previous writers on the subject. It would there- 

 fore, in my opinion, be out of place, and in a certain measure superfluous, to preface 

 the present memoir with a similar introduction ; but, as the knowledge of recent 

 Starfishes has been considerably extended since the date of Dr. Wright's contribu- 

 tion, I propose to give in an appendix to this monograph my views on the classi- 

 fication of the Asteroidea, with special reference to the fossil forms. 



At the commencement of his splendid Monograph on the Cretaceous 

 Echinoidea — to which the present memoir is a sequel — Dr. Wright gave a valuable 

 stratigraphical summary of the Cretaceous Formations in Britain. It is conse- 

 quently altogether needless to burden the pages of the Society's publications with 

 a repetition of these details. I shall, however, if necessary on the completion of 

 my work, giv^ a synopsis of the distribution in time of the various species dealt 

 with, together with such remarks on their occurrence and associations as occasion 

 may require. 



