INTRODUCTION. 
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Tue late inquiries made by M. Cuvier, Lamarck, and other Naturalists 
in comparative anatomy, have extended the application of the results ob- 
tained, to the animal remains found in the various strata of our globe. Nu- 
merous genera and species of organic beings, of whose existence we had 
no previous idea, have been thus satisfactorily ascertained, whilst others 
still require persevering and patient examination; and it has been proved, 
that by a thorough knowledge of them, greater certainty may be given to the 
facts resultiug from geological observations. 
As the environs of Bristol abound in Hn replete with organie remains, I 
was induced by these considerations to devote to them a large share of my 
. attention. The columns of the Encrinite so abundant in the black rock, (a fetid 
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mountain limestone) on the side of the river Avon, attracted my notice 
particularly, and the sparry subrotund concretions dispersed throughout 
the rock, made me hope that 1 might find in these the superior extremi- 
ties of that animal which had been generally sought for in vain. This sus- 
picion was soon after verified by the discovery of the fine specimen of Acrı- 
NOCRINITES 30 DactyLus figured Pr. rr. fig. 1. aud 2. A perusal of Mr. 
Parxtnson’s work on the Organic Remains of a former World, showed 
how much had been done, and what remained to be done, for the illustration 
of the history of the Encrinites, and M.Cuvier’s method in the identification 
of animals by their skeletons, pointed out the mode to be pursued. I began 
therefore to collect as many masses and fragments of these animals as I 
could get. I extended my field of research gradually further around the 
environs of Bristol, to the Transition and Mountain Limestone, the Lyas, 
Oolite, Greensand, and Chalk: and began to arrange the specimens obtained 
according to the strataand places where found. A few of these more perfect 
and disci than the rest, enabled me to form an idea of the relative 
