152 Messrs. Parker, Jones, and Brady on 



We now turn to the ^ Tableau M^tliodique ' and the Solda- 

 nian figures cited therein as illustrations of D'Orbignj's views 

 in respect to species. 



The carelessness with which the references were made 

 has been a cause of many difficulties and some uncertainty : 

 our corrected copy of D'Orbigny's memoir shows upwards of 

 fifty errors of reference, more or less important, besides the 

 numerous clerical mistakes which disfigure its pages. We 

 have therefore in some instances had to depart from the 

 literal reading of the text in seeking an intelligible basis for 

 our notes. Where the corrections admit of little or no doubt, 

 they are adopted without any special remark ; but in a few 

 cases, in which the clue to the author's intention is not so 

 manifest, the fact is duly noticed in its place in the following 

 pages. In the ' Tableau ' the parts of the ' Testaceographia' 

 are alluded to almost invariably as vol. 1, 2, 3, & 4; in the 

 * Cuba ' Monograph and other of D'Orbigny's papers, the 

 original designations are given, namely, Vol. I. part 1, part 2, 

 part 3, and Vol. II. This latter mode of reference, having 

 advantages alike of correctness and uniformity, has been used 

 throughout these notes. 



The plates appended to the present paper consist of care- 

 fully reduced copies of Soldani's figures in outline. Where 

 reference is made by D'Orbigny to several figures, the best 

 example has been selected. No attempt has been made to 

 improve upon the originals ; nor, except in a few cases in 

 which figures, upside down (according to present ideas), 

 have been reversed, has any alteration whatever been inten- 

 tionally made in respect of them. In Soldani's plates the 

 drawing is often rugged, sometimes rude ; but it is always 

 nervous and expressive, and, up to his knowledge, charac- 

 teristic. He does not often attempt to have the texture of the 

 shell represented by his artists, being unaware of its import- 

 ance ; and he frequently omits to indicate the position or form 

 of the aperture : but, notwithstanding these drawbacks, he 

 seldom leaves his meaning in doubt ,* and the student of the 

 Rhizopoda of the Italian peninsula, whether of the living fauna 

 of the Adriatic or of the fossil microzoa of the Sub-Apennine 

 strata, may recognize in his figures a very large proportion of 

 the organic forms met with at the present day. Soldani's 

 sagacity, too, in grouping together the genera of nearest 

 alliance is markedly shown. Indeed D'Orbigny might have 

 drawn much more largely than he did on the stores of the 

 ' Testaceographia ' with advantage to science. 



It appears to us that, in using Soldani's engraved figures as 

 published representations of certain Foraminifera, D'Orbigny 



