the Nomenclature of the Foraminifera. 147 



chiefly from the biographical article* by DeAngelis in the 

 ' Bibliographie Universelle/ Supplementj vol. xliii. 1825. 



Of the two works with which Soldani's name is chiefly 

 connected, the smaller and less important was published first. 

 It is entitled '■ Saggio orittografico ovvero Osservazioni sopra 

 le Terre nautilitiche ed ammonitiche della Toscana,' is dedi- 

 cated to the reigning Grand Duke of Tuscany, and dated 

 from Sienna, 1780. This was but preliminary to the greater 

 effort ; and as the principal part of the volume and nearly all 

 the plates were reprinted as an Appendix to the ' Testaceo- 



* SoLDANi (Ambroise), naturalist, born at Prato-Vecchia, in Tuscany, 

 about 1736. Entered the order of St. E-omuald, and, whilst pursuing his 

 religious duties, found time to devote himself to geological research, par- 

 ticularly in respect to microscopic shells and the evidences they appeared 

 to afford of ancient changes in the earth's surface. Boys and Walker 

 in England, Fichtel and Moll in Germany, and Bianchi (Janus Plancus) 

 in Italy, had already begun to appreciate the importance of this branch 

 of natm'al history ; and, impressed with the same view, Soldani began 

 early to study the minute organisms which exist in myriads in the strata 

 of the hills about Sienna and Volterra. His first work on the subject 

 obtained for him, on the one hand, the protection of the Grand Duke of 

 Tuscany, who nominated him to the Professorship of Mathematics in the 

 University of Sienna, and, on the other, the criticism of certain savants, 

 who reproached him with want of order and exactitude in the classifica- 

 tion of his fossils and the localities set down for them. These reproaches 

 were but little deserved, as his avowed object had been to collect materials 

 only, leaving the question of systematic arrangement to others, having 

 been discouraged by the imperfection of the old systems from adopting 

 any of them. The classification of Linn^ was not sufficiently detailed to 

 embrace the new species, and that of Miiller, based on the organization of 

 the Mollusca, presented obstacles in its application to animals of which, 

 though similar in some points of external appearance, the anatomy was 

 still very imperfectly understood. 



Soldani, however, was not deceived as to the real wants of geology ; 

 and he prepared to accumulate facts, with the intention of publishing his 

 geological descriptions on the plan adopted by Cuvier and Brongniart for 

 the environs of Paris. Why this project was relinquished, after having 

 been partially carried out, is not known. 



In 1794, his talent for observation was turned in another direction by 

 a shower of aeroUtes which fell in that year near Sienna, and he devoted 

 himself to the study of the phenomena of aex'olites, volcanoes, and earth- 

 quakes. His publications on these meteorological subjects brought him 

 into collision witli the leading physicists of his day, though in the end 

 he did not fail to secure the admiration of his fellow-labourers in science 

 and the esteem of the religious fraternity to which he belonged. The 

 former nominated him as Perpetual Secretary to the Academy of the 

 " Fisiocritici " of Sienna ; the latter advanced him to the dignity of General 

 of the Order of the Camaldules. He died in Florence, July 14, 1808; 

 and his funeral eloge was pronounced by his fellow-worker Bianchi. 



It is needless to add the list of his works, of which eight are mentioned 

 by De Angelis : the first two alone, the ' Saggio orittografico ' and the 

 ' Testaceographia ac Zoophytographia ' are concerned in the subject of the 

 present paper. 



11* 



