INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY OF THE GRAPTOLITIDi]. 



The following pages are essentially a reprint of the Introduc- 

 tion to the Descriptions of the Graptolites of the Quebec group, 

 published in Decade ii of Figures and Descriptions pf Canadian 

 Organic Remains. The discovery of those remarkable Canadian 

 forms in 1864 served for the first time to give us a true idea of 

 these fossil remains, and to elucidate much that had before seemed 

 inexplicable or obscure in the fragmentary portions described. 

 The publication of the descriptions and figures of the Graptolites 

 of the Hudson-river group in Vol. i (1847) of the New- York 

 Palaeontology had added considerably to our knowledge of their 

 forms ; but the later discoveries, both in America and Europe, 

 have given a new interest to this group of fossils. 



In the description of the general and structural characters of 

 the graptolites in the Canadian Decade, I have made use of New- 

 York and Western forms for illustration; and in the present 

 instance, I have borrowed from that work such illustrations as 

 seemed to me necessary to present the characteristic features of 

 the group without regard to locality. I still hope to present, at* 

 some future time, the results of a re -investigation and revision of 

 the Graptolites of the rocks of New- York ; but as this work may 

 be some time delayed, this introductory notice of the Family 

 Graptolitid^, in the interim, may be of some use to the student 

 of palaeontology. 



In the arrangement of the subject matter and the discussion of 

 the parts of the Graptolite, I have followed the order of arrange- 

 ment and essentially the use of the terms adopted by M. Baruande 

 in his " Graptolites de Boheme,^^ a statement which I had intended 

 to precede the introduction to the Decade above referred to. Were 

 we to adopt the names of parts proposed by HuxLEY^and Allman 

 in their studies of the Hydrozoa, it would require some changes 

 of the language used in the description of the parts of the Grapto- 

 lite ; and while there may be advantages in the application of such 

 terms, I can see little objection to retaining those already in use. 



[Assem. No. 239.J 22 



