vi 



BRITISH FOSSILS. 



In the six following plates a series of illustrations of the British fossil 

 Echinidce is commenced, of the majority of which, even the commonest 

 and those most important for the identification of strata, no good repre- 

 sentations are accessible to the student of English fossils. The import- 

 ance of a knowledge of the members of this family to the explorers of 

 oolitic and cretaceous strata cannot be too strongly insisted on, and their 

 beauty and interest, in a purely Natural History point of view, render 

 them admirable subjects for elaborate delineations. 



When the collections accumulated during the course of the progress 

 of the Geological Survey have been thoroughly examined and arranged, 

 new light may be expected, bearing on the details of structure of the 

 species now figured. Additions will consequently be made to the plates 

 from time to time ; and it is proposed to issue supplementary figures 

 of the variations of form exhibited by the several species selected as 

 subjects for these decades. 



Edward Forbes. 



May, 1849. 



