MEMOIR OF LAMARCK. 57 
remains to be mentioned, to which he communicated 
a remarkable impulse ; namely, the history of fossil 
shells. This highly important and interesting sub- 
ject had long attracted the attention of geologists, 
but owing to the difficulties with which it is in- 
vested. it still remained in comparative obscurity. 
One of the facts most desirable to be ascertained in 
relation to these remains, was, whether they were 
identical with species now living, a point which 
could be determined only by a careful comparison. 
Applying to this investigation that profound know- 
ledge which he had acquired of recent shells, La- 
marck was enabled to illustrate the subject in a 
most satisfactory manner, and to throw light on 
some of the most anomalous phenomena which it 
presents to the inquirer. Besides his extensive 
acquaintance with the testacea , he enjoyed another 
advantage for entering upon an inquiry of this nature 
by residing at Paris, the vicinity of which has long 
been celebrated for the number and variety of its 
fossil productions*. The result of his investigation 
appeared in several of the earlier volumes of the 
Annals of the Museum ; but the memoir was never 
brought to a conclusion. It was accompanied with a 
quarto volume of plates, containing figures of greac 
beauty and accuracy. 
Such are the principal subjects to which Lamarck’s 
* Cuvier conceives that the basin of Paris contains a greater 
accumulation of fossil shells than any other place of equal 
extent. At Grignon, no fewer than six hundred different 
species have been collected in a space not exceeding a few 
square toises. 
