68 On the Silurian Focks of Bohemia, and 



a very cleai* distinction between the upper and lower Silurian 

 rocks of Bohemia, in mineral character and superposition, as 

 well as in organic remains ; and hence, I had no hesitation 

 in announcing the fact in the opening chapter of the work 

 on Russia. I always intended, however, to enjoy the plea- 

 sure of examining in detail the best transverse sections of 

 the Bohemian basin, and little persuasion was required to in- 

 duce my colleague, De Verneuil (who, in the interval, has 

 brought the Silm*ian and other palaeozoic rocks of North 

 America into an exact pax*allel with the European series), 

 to join me in an excursion, dui'ing which he might rigorously 

 scrutinize the collections of M. Barande. Having also been 

 joined, as before said, by my other colleague, Count Keyser- 

 ling, so distinguished by his writings on the palaeozoic rocks 

 of the wild regions of the Petechora, I confidently assert, in 

 the name of my friends and self, that the collection of Silu- 

 rian fossils, made by M. Barande, is by far the richest yet 

 made known to any one region of Europe — if not in the 

 globe. I am therefore naturally anxious to offer a brief 

 sketch of 80 remarkable a basin, the most striking points of 

 which I have now explained. Admiring the beautifully di- 

 versified animal forms which M. Barande has bi'ought to 

 light, my friends and myself cannot too much extol his la- 

 bours of the last ten years, nor adequately commend the spi- 

 rit of enterprize and love of science which have sustained an 

 unaided French gentleman, who, by the vei-y libei*al employ- 

 ment of his own pecuniary means, has opened out many 

 quarries in search of these ancient medals of creation ; and 

 who, by a sound judgment and penetrating discrimination, 

 has himself successfully classed, and is now describing nearly 

 800 of the Silurian fossils, each group of which distinguishes 

 a well-marked physical horizon. The extreme precision with 

 which M. Barande has handled this difficult portion of his 

 subject is, indeed, beyond all praise ; and whether I consider 

 his labours in a field full of complication, or in the cabinet, 

 and behold their fruitful and well-digested results, I must, 

 in justice say, that his work, when completed (32 of its 120 

 plates of fossils being already finished), will be one of the 



