SUESS — DISTRIBUTION 05^ THE BRACHIOPODA. 



285 



HEMARKS ON THE DISTHIBUTION" OF THE 

 BRACHIOPODA. 



By Prof. E. Suess, of tlie Imperial Mineralogical Museum of 

 Vienna, &c. 



[Communicated by Tlios. Davidson, Esq., F.G.S.] 



In Ms address to tlie Geological Society of London, Prof. Phillips 

 lias stated tliat " very slight and trifling, if not mischievous, is that 

 minute industry which, unguided by philosophical reflections, busies 

 itself only with differentials of specimens and abandons the true 

 integration of species, the work of the real naturalist" and from so 

 just an assertion who could dissent ; for although it may be neces- 

 sary to study the characters by which species may be distinguished, 

 still, if an undue importance is given to certain features, or that these 

 are arbitrarily restricted within preconceived limits, and that the 

 more important questions in connection with the distribution and 

 zoological characters of the class in general are overlooked, then, as 

 Professor Phillips so justly observes, but very little good and much 

 harm may be the result of the minute industry of some would-be 

 palseontologists. 



Shortly after the publication of the first portion of my Jurassic 

 Monograph, I entered into active communication with Prof. Suess, of 

 Vienna, who had offered me his valued and valuable assistance in 

 the labour I had undertaken, by devoting his serious attention to the 

 Austrian species, and to those fundamental characters by which the 

 class could be subdivided, and so actively and zealously did Prof, 

 Suess pursue his allotted task, that science is indubitably indebted 

 to him for a great many of those important discoveries which 

 deservedly place him among the first few who have really advanced 

 our knowledge in connection with this im^portant class. 



In his researches Prof. Suess has constantly aimed at general 

 views ; and as those relating to the distribution in time and space 

 have been one of his favourite themes, and upon which he has 

 devoted much attention, I need make no apology while communicat- 

 ing to the readers of the " Geologist" a letter recently received, 

 and in which my distinguished friend has given a brief but concise 

 account of the most prominent results of his enquiry.* 



* I may here emimerate the various meraoirs publislied by Prof. Suess upon 

 tlie Brachiopoda, regretting at the same time that the space which can be devoted 

 to this article precludes the possibihty of my enlarging upon their respective 

 merits. 



1852. — "On Terebratula diphya." Vienna Acad. 8vo., one plate. 



1853. — " On Stringocephalus Burtini." Zool. Soc. 8vo., one plate. 



