96 
Gallery, 
No. 11. 
Gilbertson 
Collection, 
1836. 
Table-cases, 
Nos. 15 and 
16. 
The London 
Clay Club, 
1838. 
Palaeonto- 
graphical 
Society, 
founded 
1847. 
Searles V. 
Wood's Crag 
Mollusca, 
1826-1856. 
Historical and Type Collections , 
tions ; the plates of the second “ Century ’ have names onp , but 
no descriptions are published with them. 
A far more important Collection is that known as “ The 
Gilbertson Collection.” 
In 1836 Prof. John Phillips published Yol. II. of his 
“Illustrations of the Geology of Yorkshire, ’ which is devoted 
to the “ Mountain Limestone District.” In the Introduction, lie 
writes as follows : — “ My greatest obligation is to Mr. W m. 
Gilbertson of Preston, a naturalist of high acquirements, who 
has for many years explored with exceeding diligence a region 
of Mountain Limestone, remarkably rich in organic remains. 
The collection which he has amassed from the small district of 
Bolland is ar this moment unrivalled, and he has done for me, 
without solicitation, what is seldom granted to the most urgent 
entreaty; he has sent me for deliberate examination, at con- 
venient intervals, the whole of his magnificent collection, 
accompanied by remarks dictated by long experience and a 
sound judgment.” He (Gilbertson) had proposed to publish 
on the Crinoidea himself, but his sketches, as well as his speci- 
mens, were all placed at Prof. Phillips disposal. Phillips adds 
— “An attentive examination of this rich collection rendered it 
unnecessary to study minutely the less extensive series preserved 
in other cabinets .... most of the .figures of fossils are taken 
from specimens in Mr. Gilbertson’s Collection, because these were 
generally the best that could be found. 
The Gilbertson Collection was purchased for the British 
Museum in 1841. 
The collections which follow mark a distinct era in the 
annals of Geological Science. 
Some fifty years ago a little Society was founded by a few 
London geologists, namely — Dr. J. Scott Bowerbank, F.R.S., 
Searles V. Wood, F.G.S., Prof. John Morris, F.G.S., Alfred 
White, F.L.S., Nathaniel T. Wetherell, F.G.S., James de Carle 
Sowerbv, F.L.S., and Frederick E. Edwards, F.G.S., for the 
purpose" of illustrating the Eocene Mollusca, and entitled the 
“ London Clay Club.” 
They met at stated periods at each other’s houses, and after 
a time they said, “ Why should we not illustrate all the fossils 
of the British Islands, and from every formation?” No sooner 
proposed than a Society was founded, named the Paleeonto- 
graphical Society, in the year 1847, just forty-three years ago. 
The first volume, issued in that year, was “The Crag Mollusca,” 
Part I., Univalves by Mr. Searles V. Wood, F.G.S. (with 2l 
plates). 
Here is preserved the actual “ Searles Wood Crag Collec- 
tion.” This collection was commenced in 1826, and occupied 
about 30 years in its formation. It represents the Molluscan 
fauna of the Bed and Coralline Crags of the neighbourhood of 
