SUESS — DISTRIUUTION OF THE liKACUIOPODA. 
285 
REMARKS ON THE DISTRIBUTION OF THE 
BRACHIOPODA. 
By Prof. E. Suess, of the Imperial Mineralogical Museum of 
Vienna, &c. 
[Communicated by Thos. Davidson, Esq., F.G.S.] 
In his address to the Geological Society of London, Prof. Phillips 
has stated that " very slight and trifling, if not mischievous, is that 
minute industry which, unguidcd by philosophical reflections, busies 
itself only with differentials of specunens 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 
pala3ontologists. 
Shortly after the publication of the first portion of my Jurassic 
Monograph, I entered into active communication with Prof. Suess, of 
Vienna, who had oSered 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 impoiiant discoveries which 
deservedly place him among the first few who have really advanced 
our knowledge in connection with this important 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 ju'ominent results of his enquiry.* 
* I may hei*e enumerate tlie various memoirs {jublished by Prof. Suess upon 
the Brachiopoda, regretting at the same time that the space which can be devoted 
to this article precludes the possibility of my enlarging upon theii- respecti\'o 
merits. 
1852. — "On Terebratula diphya." Vienna Acad. 8to., one plate. 
1853. — " On Stiingocephalus Bui-tini." Zool. Soc. 8vo., one plate. 
