INTEODUCTION. 



11 



goes back to the date of acquisition of Sir Hans Sloane's Formation 

 Museum, the year 1753; the geological portion of which cluoUec- 1 

 was found to consist " in what, by way of distinction, tion. 

 are called extraneous fossils, comprehending petrified bodies, 

 as Trees, or parts of them ; Herbaceous Plants ; Animal 

 Substances. . The collection was reported to be "the 

 most extensive and most curious that ever was seen of 

 that kind/' It received but slight additions in the earlier 

 years of the Museum's progress, but, under the influence 

 of the extreme interest taken in the science of geology, has 

 now attained a truly noble expansion. Until the year 1857 

 the Geological collections were united with those of Mineralogy 

 under the charge of one keeper, but in that year Mineralogy was 

 separated and constituted into a distinct department. Among 

 the contents of the Geological department are upwards of fifty 

 collections of Fossils having the original specimens named, 

 described, and figured in various works on Palaeontology, and 

 on this account termed " type specimens/' Of these the 

 most worthy of note are Dr. William Smith's collection, 

 illustrative of his work, u Strata identified by Organized 

 Fossils" (London 1816-19); Mr. Thomas Hawkins' col- 

 lection of Reptiles, from the Lias, figured and described in 

 his work " Sea-Dragons," forming two great groups, the 

 Ichthyosauri and the Plesiosauri ; a very extensive series 

 of Mammalian remains from the Sewalik Hills, described by 

 Falconer and Cautley in their " Fauna Antiqua Sivalensis " ; 

 Koch's collection of remains of the Mastodon Ohioticus, 

 from Missouri, U.S. ; the Bravard collection of South Ameri- 

 can remains of Mammalia ; the Bain collection of South African 

 Reptilian remains ; the Gilbertson collection of Carboni- 

 ferous Limestone Fossils, figured by Phillips in his Geology 

 of Yorkshire ; the Bowerbank fossils ; the Marchioness of 

 Hastings' collection from Hordwell, Hampshire ; the Edwards 

 collection of Eocene Tertiary Mollusca, containing the types of 

 his Monograph ; Sir Antonio Brady's series of Mammalian 

 remains from Ilford, Essex ; the Yan Breda Museum, com- 

 prising specimens from the Maestricht chalk, and from all 

 parts of Europe, rich in figured specimens, and the Tesson 

 collection of Oolitic Fossils, from Normandy : Dr. Ettings- 



