Thesaurus siluricus : the flora and fauna of the Silurian period : with addenda (from recent acquistions) / by John J. Bigsby.

Date:
1868
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Thesaurus siluricus : the flora and fauna of the Silurian period : with addenda (from recent acquistions) / by John J. Bigsby. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    PEEFACE. This attempt to exhibit in a clear and concise form the leading features of Silurian life has arisen from my own deeply felt want of such a record or muster-roll of the constituent members of this early portion of extinct Zoology—a great and varied zoology, prophetic of the grand outlines of all succeeding organic beings, and unequalled in magnitude and other points of interest. This has been rendered a favourable moment for such an undertaking by recent publications of singular value, but which are difficult of access. The new facts they contain may now be added to the accumulations of the last thirty years, brought together by the highly meritorious labours of private individuals, and especially by the Professors and Students of Colleges in many parts of the world. But the largest contributions have come from public surveys, in North America especially. These surveys have been conducted by men of great ability and zeal. When, therefore, a national exploration has been set on foot, the effect has always been, in an extraordinary degree, that sterility in facts mineral and organic has become abundance, and obscmity has been exchanged for light. As there is here required not only a common acquaintance with Silurian life, but also an exactitude and a critical skill in palaeontological determinations much beyond the ordinary student, I obtained, after my materials were well put together, the very valuable aid of Mr. J. W. Salter, late Paleeontologist to the Museum of Practical Geology. I was then, through the kindness of Sir R. I. Murchison, Bart., K.C.B., allowed to submit my manuscript to Robert Etheridge, Esq., F.R.S.E., the present Paleontologist to the Institution over which Sir Roderick presides with so much father-like wisdom. To the continued superintendence of these eminent naturalists I am indebted for corrections and suggestions of the greatest value, and particularly as relates to Britain and the Old World. My matter has been principally found in the voluminous and truly priceless writings of Angelin, Barrande, Billings, Davidson, De Verneuil, Eichwald, Hall, M'Coy, Murchison, Phillips, Portlock, Salter, Sedgwick, Shumard, Sowerby, and many other authors of scarcely inferior merit *. My best acknowledgments are due to Sir Roderick Murchison for the fourth edition of Siluria^' : much new information has been derived from it. I have been favoured with many unpublished contributions from my friends Mr. Billings (the learned Palaeontologist of the Canadian Geological Survey) and Principal Dawson, F.R.S., Montreal. Also, tlirough the kindness of Mr. Salter, large additions have been received from Col. Strachey (Himalayas, E. I.), from Dr. Milligan (West Tasmania), from Henry Hicks, Esq. (South Wales), and from the late Mr. Wyatt-Edgell of the 13th Regiment of Infantry. In regard to the obligations conferred on me by M. Joachim Barrande, silence, were it possible, * Agassiz, Belt, BejTicli, Bronn, Brongniart, Camithers, Conrad, Dalman, D'Orbigny, ^'ic•OInte d'Arcliiac-. Dawson, Emmerich, Emmons, Fisclier, E. Forbes, Goldfuss, Green, Ilarkness, liisinger, llaime, ^^oueyman, T. Kupert .lones, Ketley, Kutorga, Lawrow, Linnseus, Loven, Lonsdale, Marcy, M'Cbesney, Meek, Meneghini, Milne-Edwards, Morris, Nicholson, Owen, Pander, Romer, Rouault, Sars, Safford, Shaler, Shai-pe, Swallow, Triger, Vauuxem, Von liuch, Yolborth, Wahlenberg, Winchell, &c. b
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