PREFACE. 



The preparation of the MS. of this "Catalogue of the Fossils of the British Islands 

 Stratigraphically and Zoologically arranged" was commenced in 1865. At the outset it was 

 intended merely to facilitate my own work as Palaeontologist to the Geological Survey of Great 

 Britain ; more particularly when it became my duty to name, classify and arrange the great 

 accumulation of fossils contained in the general collection and in the stores of the Museum of 

 Practical and Economical Geology in Jermyn Street. 



In order to convey some idea of the importance that attaches to the history and 

 determination of the species which illustrate the succession of life in the Bocks comprising the 

 stratigraphical or sedimentary strata in the British Islands, I may mention that nearly 18,000 

 extinct species have been described, and in great part figured, in the Memoirs, Monographs, 

 and Transactions of Societies ; and it will show yet more clearly the significance of the 

 Historical Census or Distribution of Life through time, from the lowest known Cambrian 

 strata up to the end of the Pliocene or commencement of Modern or Quaternary deposits, if I 

 give the details of the progress of Palaeontological discovery. 



In the year 1822 only 752 extinct species of all classes in the Animal and Vegetable 

 Kingdom were known and described. In 1854, 1280 genera and 4000 species were catalogued 

 by Professor J. Morris; at the close of the year 1874 no less than 13,300 species had been 

 described and for the most part figured; now 3750 genera and 18,000 species comprise 

 the census of the British Fossil Fauna and Flora, all of which have been recorded in 

 Monographs and serial works dealing with British Geology and Palaeontology. The present 

 volume is devoted to the complete analysis of the Palaeozoic species only, ranging from 

 the Cambrian to the close of the Permian deposits. They comprise altogether 1588 genera 

 and 6022 species arranged stratigraphically (or in the order of time), and also classified 

 zoologically. 



The Supplementary Appendix is brought down to the end of 1886. It not only contains 

 all additional species described since the Catalogue was in type, but also records the changes in 

 the nomenclature and distribution of many Zoological groups and species previously catalogued 

 which have been rendered necessary by the progress of research. This is especially the case with 



