BRITISH FOSSILS. 



No. of 

 Specimen. 



Length at 

 Base. 



Breadth at 

 Base. 



Height. 



Lsita Diameter 

 at a Fourth 



\Jl lilt; XXclgllu 



frona the Apex.. 









Inch. 



Inch. 



Inch. 



Inch. 







1 



^ 12 



1 T2 



If. 



Oil 







2 



12 



1 ^- 

 12 



1t2 



Oil 







3 



1^2 



^ 12 



1t^2 



Oil 







4 



III 







Oil 







5 



1 7 



^ 12 



If. 





Oil 







6 



1 8 



Ill 



111 



Oil 







7 



1 4 

 J 12 





1 2? 



0^ 







8 



^ 12 



^ T2 



Ill 



oii 







9 







Oil 



Oil 





Affinities. — In the valuable Monograph of Galerites by M. Desor, 

 there are eleven species of the genus (in its most restricted sense) 

 enumerated, all of which would rank, according to the views we have 

 adopted in these memoirs, as members of the sub-genus Galerites. Nine, 

 if not the whole eleven of Desor's species are found in British cretaceous 

 strata. After a careful consideration of figures, specimens, and citations, 

 I have come to the conclusion that the whole eleven may be reduced 

 to only four true species, one of them the Galerites before us, the other 

 three very nearly allied forms. The species of the sub-genus Galerites 

 which I recognize as truly entitled to that rank are the following : — 



1st. G. albogalerus ; first so named by Klein on account of its fancied 

 resemblance to the white caps worn by the priests of Jupiter, the com- 

 mon form here figured and described in detail, previously noticed by 

 many old writers and sometimes rudely figured ; it was adopted into stri'ct 

 scientific nomenclature by Gmelin in the thirteenth edition of the 

 " Systema Naturae." There was never any mistake about the typical 

 form of this species, and though the generic name has been frequently 

 changed, the old and appropriate specific denomination has been held 

 sacred and should be kept. I regret, therefore, that Dr. Mantell should 

 have recently applied to it a new epithet — the word cretaceus, applicable 

 to all the species of the sub-genus Galerites, in his excellent popular 

 manual of Palaeontology, the " Medals of Creation." 



The fourth species in M. Desor's Monograph, is one of the com- 

 monest varieties of albogalerus, elevated to a species by Agassiz, under 

 the name of Galerites conica. Every gradation of outline between it 

 and the typical form (which is the more conical of the two) is to be met 

 with abundantly in the English chalk. In describing it, M. Desor has 

 carefully contrasted its characters with G. vulgaris ; the distinctions he 



