PRELIMINARY REMARKS. 3 



of our British and Foreign Geologists. Of the nine species discovered in the super- 

 cretaceous deposits of our island, four exist still in the recent state, three of which are 

 found near our coasts. It has therefore been thought advisable to include, in this 

 Monograph, our few recent species so closely connected with the fossil ones, ably described 

 and illustrated by Professor Forbes and Mr. S. Hanley in their excellent work on British 

 Mollusca, which valuable information has assisted me so materially in drawing up the 

 descriptions of our five recent species. 1 



It is stated by Professor Forbes, that "Brachiopods are so rare or so local in the 

 British seas, that ordinary collectors are not likely to meet with any. Not long ago a 

 British Brachiopod was one of the brightest gems in any collection so fortunate as to 

 contain it. Three or four minute and undeveloped examples of Ter. caput-serpentis and 

 a few Crania were all we were likely to meet with, after exploring the great majority of 

 public and private cabinets : of late years a great number of that interesting Terebratula 

 have been taken, and Crania has also been found in abundance, so that there is no 

 difficulty in obtaining an indigenous type of the order." 



The other three species are still great rarities, two of which, Ter. cranium and 

 Rhpichonetta psittacea, being only known by a few solitary specimens. In the upper 

 Tertiaries, of the six known species, one only, Ter. grandis, may be called common, and in 

 the lower Tertiaries of the three forms mentioned, one only has hitherto been found in an 

 incomplete state. 2 



1 Consult Sir Charles Lyell's works; those of Mr. Webster, in the 'Geol. Transactions,' vol. i; 

 Mr. Prestwich's excellent papers in the ' Quarterly Journal of the Geol. Soc.;' those of Mr. Charlesworth, 

 in the ' Mag. of Nat. Hist.,' 1837, and ' Phil. Mag.' for 1835 ;' S. Wood, in the 'Annals of Nat. Hist.' and 

 Palseontographical Society's works ; Viscount d'Archiac's numerous papers, particularly his * Essai sur la 

 Coordination des Terrains Tertiares' ('Bull. Soc. Geol. de France,' vol. x, p. 1G8, 1839,) and ' Histoire des 

 Progres de la Geologie,' vol. ii, 2de partie, 1849 ; as well as the works of Cuvier and Brongniart, Constant 

 Prevost, Deshayes, Sowerby, Hebert, D'Orbigny, F. Edwards, &c. &c. 



2 It gives me very much pleasure in here stating, that since the publication of last year's portion of 

 my work, I have again received kind and zealous assistance from many of the gentlemen there named ; and 

 I have now the pleasure of adding those of Messrs. S. Wood, Fitch of Norwich, Harris of Charing, Catt of 

 Brighton, Image of Whepstead, Wood of Richmond (Yorkshire), Falkner of Devizes, Ferguson of Redcar, 

 Prof. Sedgwick, Mr. Carter of Cambridge, Mackey of Folkstone, R. Jones, Griffith of Dublin, Dr. Lewis, 

 and MM. D'Orbigny and Schnurr, who have liberally lent me the specimens contained in their valuable 

 local collections. 



