He should fully comprehend one subject before he advances to the consideration of another, and should test the solidity of his knowledge by practical research. He should visit some of the localities described; collect specimens, and develope them with his own hands; examine their structure microscopically; nor rest satisfied till he has determined their general character, and ascertained their generic and specific relations. Nor is this an arduous or irksome task; by a moderate degree of attention, a mind of average ability may quickly overcome the apparent difficulties, and will find in the knowledge thus acquired, and in the accession of mental vigour which such investigations never fail to impart, an ample reward for any expenditure of time and trouble. It is, indeed, within the power of every intelligent reader, by assiduity and perseverance, to attain the high privilege of those who "walk in the midst of wonders, in circumstances where the uninformed and uninquiring eye can perceive neither novelty nor beauty ;" and of being "Even as one, Who by some secret gift of soul or eye, Sir J. F. W. Herschel's Discourse, Nat. Phil. p. 15. TABLE OF CONTENTS. 7.-PRELIMINARY REMARKS; -on the plan of the work and the arrange- ment of the subjects it embraces, 10. Works of reference, 10-14. List of subjects, 15, 16. Lignographs illustrative of Fossil Botany, 17. CHAPTER I.-On the nature and arrangement of the British strata, and their fossil contents, 19. Rocks composed of animal remains, 21. CHAPTER II.-Tabular arrangement of the British formations, 30—48. Geographical distribution of the strata in England, 48. CHAPTER III.-On the nature of Organic Remains, 50. CHAPTER IV.-On Fossil Vegetables, 63. Vegetable organization, 66. Mode of investigating fossil stems, 72; and fossil leaves, 75. Micro- scopical examination of fossil vegetables, 76. CHAPTER V.-On peat-wood, lignite, and coal, 81. On coal, 90. Strati- CHAPTER VI.-Fossil botany, 102. Cellulosæ, 103. Equisetum, 107. Calamites, 109. FERNS, 111. Pachypteris, 114. Sphenopteris, 115. Cyclopteris, 116. Neuropteris, 117. Glossopteris, 117. Odonto- pteris, 118. Anomopteris, 119. Taeniopteris, 120. Pecopteris, 121. Lonchopteris, 122. Phlebopteris, 123. Clathropteris, 124. Caulo- pteris, 126. Sigillaria, 129. Stigmaria, 139. Lepidodendron, 144. Lepidostrobus, 148. Halonia, 150. Knorria, 151. Sternbergia, 151. Asterophyllites, 152. Cardiocarpon, 153. Trigonocarpum, 154. Cy- CADEA, 155. Zamia, 157. Pterophyllum, 158. Mantellia, 159. Fruits of Cycadeæ, 160. CONIFERE, 162. Araucaria, 163. Coni- ferous wood, 165-171. Pandanus, 172. PALMACITES, 172. Endo- genites, 174. Isle of Sheppey fruits, 175-181. Liliaceæ, 181. Clathraria Lyellii, 182. Chara, 187. Nymphea, 187. Flowering Dicotyledons, 189. Leaves, 193. Fossil fruits, 194. Carpolithes Smithiæ, 196. Dicotyledonous stems, 196. Retrospect, 198. On collecting fossil plants, 203. British localities of vegetable fossils CHAPTER VII.-Fossil animalcules, 215. Recent infusoria, 216. Fossil infusoria, 221. Polierschiefer, 223. Richmond infusorial earth, 224. CHAPTER VIII.-Fossil zoophytes, 248. Amorphozoa, 249. Spongites, Fresh-water univalves, 416. Marine univalves, 420. Spherulites, 428. Molluskite, 431. Geological Distribution of Shells, 436. On INDEX OF VOL. I. CONTENTS OF VOL. II. DESCRIPTION OF FRONTISPIECE (Plate II.). TABLE OF CONTENTS. CHAPTER XIII.-Fossil Cephalopoda, 458. Belemnitidæ, 462. Fossil CHAPTER XIV.-Fossil Articulata, 518. CHAPTER XV.-Fossil Ichthyology; Sharks, Rays, and other Placoid CHAPTER XVI.-Fossil Ichthyology; Ganoid, Ctenoid, and Cycloid fishes, CHAPTER XVII.—Fossil Reptiles: Enaliosaurians and Crocodiles, 684. CHAPTER XVIII.-Fossil Reptiles; comprising the Dinosaurians, Ptero- CHAPTER XIX.-Fossil Birds, 795. CHAPTER XX.-Fossil Mammalia, 820. PART III.-GEOLOGICAL EXCURSIONS, 883. For the information of persons engaged in works on Natural Mr. WHEELER, 3, Guildford Street, Gray's-Inn Lane, by Mr. WHIMPER, 20, Canterbury Place, Lambeth. The Mr. JAMES LEE, 97, Prince's Square, Kensington; to whose * I cannot refrain from expressing, in the strongest terms, how much I have reason to commend the excellent Printer, from whose press these volumes emanate; and how greatly I am obliged to the compositors for their skill and patience in deciphering hieroglyphics, at all times some- what illegible, and rendered peculiarly so on the present occasion, from the greater part of the manuscript having been written under the pressure of severe bodily suffering. I may say, with Gerald Griffin, that "I verily "believe, if I shut my eyes, or flung the pen at the paper, so as to make "a mark of any kind, my printers would find out what I meant. They "always send me back my manuscript with the printed proofs for correc- "tion; and I actually have repeatedly been unable to make out what I had |