xviii INTR OD UCTION. 



years Mr. F. Harford has prepared for study a large 

 number of Fossil Fishes from the Chalk of Kent, lately 

 acquired by the British Museum ; and Mr. S. J. Hawkins, 

 F.G.S., has a private collection of similar specimens 

 beautifully extricated from the matrix. Many collectors 

 and museums are indebted to Mr. Joseph Wood for the 

 discovery of fine specimens in the Chalk of Kent. 



Eocene Vertebrata are abundant both in the London 

 and Hampshire Basins, and most Museums have repre- 

 sentative series. In the early part of the century, Bower- 

 bank collected from the London Clay of Sheppey, and' 

 Dixon from the Bracklesham Beds of Sussex and the 

 Barton Clay of Hampshire ; Mr. Searles V. Wood, 

 F.G.S., author of the Crag Mollusca, explored the cliffs 

 of Hordwell ; the late Barbara, Marchioness of Hastings, 

 chiefly with the help of Mr. Henry Keeping, obtained 

 a large series of Reptilian and Mammalian fossils from 

 the Upper Eocene of Hordwell and the Hempstead Beds 

 of the Isle of Wight ; and the late Earl of Enniskillen and 

 Sir Philip Egerton accumulated an extensive collection of 

 fish-remains from various formations and localities in both 

 basins. All these collections, which comprise the types of 

 most species of British Eocene Vertebrata hitherto described, 

 have been finally acquired by the British Museum, that of 

 Mr. Searles Wood being presented and the others obtained 

 by purchase. To Mr. W. H. Shrubsole, F.G.S.,of Sheerness, 

 palaeontologists are mainly indebted for the numerous dis- 

 coveries of Vertebrata in the London Clay of Sheppey 

 during the last twenty years, and all his principal specimens 

 are also now in the British Museum. 



The Crag Deposits of Suffolk and Norfolk yield the 

 remains of Pliocene Vertebrata mingled with those of 

 Miocene and Eocene age, derived from earlier strata. Since 

 the opening of the phosphate diggings in 1840, large collec- 

 tions have been made by the late Messrs. James Baker and 

 W. Whincopp, of Woodbridge, these being acquired by 



