HISTOEICAL COLLECTIONS. 



11 



Mr. E. Bullen Newton, was published by the Trustees G-allery XI. 

 in 1891. 



The first publication of the Pal^eontographical Society 

 was Part I. of the " Crag Mollusca " — a monograph by 

 Searles V. Wood (1798-1880) published between the 

 years 1848 and 1861, with supplements in 1871, 1873, and Table-cases 

 1879. The collection on wdiich this work was based was 1» 2, 3. 

 begun in 1826, and took about thirty years to form. It 

 represents the Molluscan fauna of the Red and Coralline 

 Crags of the neighbourhood of Woodbridge, and from Aid- 

 borough, Chillesford, Sudbourn, Orford, Butley, Sutton, 

 Rarasholt, Felixstowe, and many other localities in Suffolk, 

 also from Walton-on-the-Naze in Essex. The collection was 

 presented by Mr. Wood to the British Museum in 1852, and 

 a supplementary collection was given by Mrs. S. V. Wood, 

 jun., in 1885. 



Before leaving these collections, the visitor may again be 

 reminded that their importance lies in the fact that they 

 contain the specimens described in certain classical memoirs, 

 and form therefore the ultimate evidence for the truth of 

 these works. This is particularly the case when a student 

 wishes to make certain of the actual form which was in the 

 mind of the original author when he was describing a new 

 species. Owing to the subsequent discovery of many closely 

 related and intermediate forms, it is usually impossible for 

 a species founded by the older writers to be recognised from 

 their descriptions and figures alone. The specimens them- 

 selves must be seen. Consequently these original or type- 

 specimens, as they are called, are of the highest importance in 

 scientific study. A very large number of type-specimens in 

 the various groups of fossils are preserved, and most of them 

 exhibited in the general collection of the Department, where 

 they may be readily found in their proper zoological and 

 geological positions. The similar specimens in this gallery 

 have been kept apart, either owing to the historical interest 

 of the original collections, or in deference to the wishes of 

 their former owners. 



For more complete information concerning the numerous 

 collections of fossils that have found their way into the 

 British Museum, reference should be made to " The History 

 of the Collections contained in the Natural History Depart- 

 ments of the British Museum," vol. i., 1904. 



