﻿Xxii PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



Bohemia, before we were made acquainted with that laborious under- 

 taking the success of which the Council are now especially desirous 

 to promote. As the public are not yet in possession of accurate 

 information respecting this forthcoming work, I shall say a few words 

 on its particular scope and bearing. 



' The Silurian System of Bohemia,' a part of which is already in 

 print, will consist of three quarto volumes, and will contain 1 60 plates, 

 illustrating the state of the animal kingdom in the most ancient pa- 

 laeozoic period. Some of you have already seen fifty- two of the plates, 

 devoted to the description of more than 200 species of Trilobites, with 

 which the first volume is almost exclusively occupied, forming a 

 splendid monograph of that curious tribe of extinct crustaceans. The 

 second and third volumes will contain the Mollusca and other fossils, 

 thirty plates of Cephalopods and Gasteropods being already executed. 

 The faithful delineation of so many specimens, so perfectly preserved, 

 will make the marine fauna of those remote times almost as well 

 known to us as that of the tertiary seas. 



In bringing together so vast a collection of materials, the author, 

 a native of France, depended entirely on his own resources, and re- 

 ceived no government assistance. On inquiring of him what was his 

 method of collecting, he informed me that for ten consecutive years 

 he had systematically pursued the same plan, which is so characteristic 

 of his energy and perseverance, that the Society will not, I feel sure, 

 deem it unworthy of notice. M. Barrande first made a preliminary 

 survey of the region which he had resolved to explore, and having 

 determined the relative position and outcrop of the various beds, en- 

 gaged ten or twelve intelligent workmen, who were taught how to 

 search for fossils, and provided with all the necessary tools, including 

 magnifying-glasses. Under the superintendence of their employer, 

 these men proceeded to open and work innumerable quarries, wherever 

 there seemed to be a promise of obtaining organic remains, and solely 

 for that object. They continued to labour uninterruptedly in this 

 manner for ten years, and the following statement will give some idea 

 of the rich harvest which they reaped. The Bohemian species of all 

 classes of fossils previously described by Sternberg, Boeck, and Zenker, 

 scarcely exceeded twenty in number, whereas M. Barrande during 

 his investigation procured 1 1 00 species from the same area, — probably 

 the most numerous assemblage of palaeozoic remains in the world, 



