THE BRITISH CONULARLE. 



INTRODUCTION. 



Tite interest attaching to the systematic position of the genus Gonularia, 

 together with the absence of a general account of the British species, induced me 

 to undertake the work for this monograph, which has been carried out during the 

 last two years at the Sedgwick Museum, Cambridge, and the British Museum 

 (Natural History), London. During its progress I have examined specimens 

 from the Geological Survey Collections in London, Edinburgh, and Dublin, from 

 the British Museum (Natural History), from the Sedgwick Museum, Cambridge, 

 from Mrs. Gray's Collection of Girvan Fossils, and from other sources. I also 

 worked at the Vetenskaps-Akademi, Stockholm, where I was enabled, by the 

 kindness of Professor Holm, to inspect a number of Swedish specimens and 

 compare them with the British forms. 



In conclusion I should like to express my best thanks to the officials of the 

 museums in which I have worked for their unfailing courtesy and kindness, and 

 especially to Mr. H. Woods, at whose suggestion I undertook the monograph, and 

 who has given me the most valuable help and guidance throughout. 



HISTORY. 



The first reference to Gonularia is found in the ' History of Buthcrglen and 

 Kilbride,' 1 where the author refers to a " curious fossil," the class of which had 

 not been determined. " The specimens are in casts of ironstone, sometimes found 

 inclosed in ironstone like a nucleus." No locality is given, but the shell is figured. 

 In 1818 Sowerby 2 gave a diagnosis of the genus Gonularia, which " Mr. Miller, of 

 Bristol, has very properly instituted for the reception of a four-sided fossil, 



1 Ure, ' History of Kntherglen and Kilbride ' (1793), pp. 330, 331, pi. xx, fig. 7. 

 Sowerby, 'Min. Conch.,' vol. iii (1818), p. 107, pi. 260, figs. 1—6. 



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