Figures and Descriptions of Canadian Organic Remains. 2Q9 



decade are the work of Mr. W. Sowerby, from drawings by 

 Mr. E. C. Bone. The engravings are on steel ; nine of the plates 

 are finished, and it is expected the tenth will be completed in a 

 short time. 



"The second decade was undertaken also in 1855, by Mr. Jas- 

 Hall of Albany, so justly celebrated for his works on the Palaeon- 

 tology of New York. It will comprehend the description of a 

 large number of remarkable new forms of Graptolithus and allied 

 genera from the Hudson River group. The drawings are by 

 Mr. F. B. Meek. Six plates have been engraved on steel by 

 Mr. J. E. Gavit, and ten more plates are in the engraver's hands. 

 The number of species will probably be twenty-four, of which 

 Mr. Hall has already given a description in the Report of Frogress 

 for the year 1857. 



" On the appointment of Mr. E. Billings as Palaeontologist of the 

 Survey, in 1856, his first duty was to effect an arrangement of the 

 Museum. This being accomplished, he devoted his attention to a 

 third decade. This comprehends all the Cystidese and Star-fishes, 

 as well as all the Entomostraca, of the collection. With the view 

 of obtaining the plates necessary for the illustration of these, Mr. 

 Billings in the month of February last, carried his fossils to Lon- 

 don. Finding that considerable delay was likely to attend the 

 publication of the decade should he illustrate it by engravings 

 on steel, he determined to have recourse to lithography. Although 

 minute detail cannot be so finely given by this mode, nor so large 

 an edition be obtained, it is yet perfectly suitable for all practical 

 purposes. It is occasionally used for the fossils of the British 

 Survey, and very generally for the illustration of the best palaeon- 

 tological works on the continent of Europe. The twelve plates 

 which illustrate the third decade are the work of several well-known 

 artists, who have all their respective merits. One of the plates is 

 by Mr. R. C. Bone, two of them by Mr. J. Dinkle, four by Mr. 

 Tuffen West, three by Mr. H. S. Smith, one by Mr. W. Sowerby, 

 and one by Mr. G. Wes f . Of the descriptive part, the Cystideae 

 and Star-fishes are by Mr. E. Billings ; the genus Cyclocystoides 

 by Mr. Salter and Mr. Billings ; and the Entomostraca by Mr. T. 

 R. Jones, assistant-secretary of the Geological Society of London, 

 who is considered the best authority on this particular family of 

 animals, and had previously described a large number of the 

 Canadian species. 



" While Mr. Billings was attending to the progress of his decade 



