A MONOGRAPH 
OF THE 
BRITISH FOSSIL CORALS. 
SHCOND SERIES. 
PREFACE. 
T'weELVE years have elapsed since MM. Milne-Edwards and Jules Haime completed 
their great ‘Monograph of the British Fossil Corals’ for the Palaeontographical Society. 
During this period Geology and Paleontology have been very carefully studied, 
with the aid of all the accessories of modern scientific research. Many strata which had 
been considered almost unfossiliferous have been discovered to contain both known and 
unknown species, and those beds which yielded the specimens so admirably described and 
figured by the great French Zoophytologists have been successfully searched for others. 
The interest in the study of the Mapreporartia has been greatly increased since the 
publication of the “ Introduction” in the ‘ Monograph of the British Fossil Corals,’ for the 
list and the description of the genera which it contained facilitated the diagnosis of species. 
In 1857 the authors of that “ Introduction” commenced a work which has remained the 
best and, in fact, the only text-book for the student of recent and fossil Corals. ‘The 
‘Histoire Naturelle des Coralliaires’ was completed in 1860, by Milne-Edwards, after the 
death of his able and amiable colleague, M. J. Haime. The anatomy, physiology, and 
classification of the ZoanTuaria are admirably given in this work, and the classification is, 
with slight modifications, adopted by all Zoophytologists. 
The distinguished authors modified many of their genera and introduced others, con- 
sequently the “ Introduction’’ in the First Part of the ‘ British Fossil Corals’ is incomplete 
and behind the day. | 
Many authors have added to the general knowledge of the comparative anatomy of 
recent Corals, and a few have given elaborate descriptions of fossil species’ since the publi- 
* Reuss, in his ‘ Beitrage zur Charakteristik der Kreideschichten in den Ostalpen, &e. De Fromentel, 
“Polypiers Fossiles.’ Laube, ‘Corals of St. Cassian, in Die Fauna der Schichten von St. Cassian, 1 Abtheil. 
Michelotti et Duchassaing, ‘Mem. Acad. Turin,’ 2nd series, vol. xix, p. 279, 1861. Seguenza, ‘ Disquisi- 
zioni Paleon. intorno di Corall. Foss. di Messina.’ There are also memoirs on the West Indian, Australian, 
Sindian, Maltese, and Javanese fossil Corals, by myself. 
a 
