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  3. Cambridge Library Collection - Monographs of the Palaeontographical Society

The Palaeontographical Society was established in 1847, and is the oldest Society devoted to study of palaeontology worldwide. Its primary role is to promote the description and illustration of the British fossil flora and fauna, via publication of an authoritative monograph series. These monographs cover a wide range of taxonomic groups, from microfossils, trilobites and ammonites through to Coal Measure plants, mammals and reptiles, and from all ages from Cambrian to Pleistocene. They form a benchmark for understanding the past life of the British Isles and many include the original descriptions of numerous key species. The first monograph (on the Crag Mollusca) was published in March 1848 and the Society still continues this work today. Notable authors in the series include Charles Darwin (fossil barnacles) and Richard Owen (dinosaurs and other extinct reptiles). Beginning in 2014, the Cambridge Library Collection and the Society are collaborating to reissue the earlier publications, focusing on monographs completed between 1848 and 1918.

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29 results in Cambridge Library Collection - Monographs of the Palaeontographical Society

Page 2 of 2

A Monograph of the Crag Mollusca
  • With Descriptions of Shells from the Upper Tertiaries of the East of England
  • Volume 4, Second and Third Supplements (Univalves and Bivalves)
  • Searles V. Wood
  • Published online:
    05 June 2015
    Print publication:
    20 November 2014
    First published in:
    1879
  • The Pliocene-Pleistocene Crags of East Anglia are an incredibly rich source of fossil shells, many belonging to extant Boreal and Mediterranean genera. Dominated by marine gastropods and bivalves, the deposits also contain evidence of terrestrial and non-marine gastropods and bivalves, brachiopods, and extensive epifauna including bryozoans. Published between 1848 and 1879 in four volumes, the latter two being supplements with further descriptions and geological notes, this monograph by Searles Valentine Wood (1798–1880) covers more than 650 species and varieties of fossil mollusc. For each species Wood gives a synonymy, diagnosis (in Latin), full description, dimensions, occurrence and remarks. The supplements also provide a breakdown of the species and their current distribution. The detailed plates were prepared by the conchologist George Brettingham Sowerby and his namesake son. Volume 4 (1879) comprises the second supplement, covering univalves and bivalves. Also included here is a third supplement, published by the late author's son in 1882.

A Monograph of the British Trilobites from the Cambrian, Silurian, and Devonian Formations
  • J. W. Salter
  • Published online:
    05 June 2015
    Print publication:
    05 March 2015
    First published in:
    1864
  • At the time of his death, John William Salter (1820–69) was dubbed 'the prince of palaeontologists'. A true naturalist with a particular interest in Trilobita, he started publishing this monograph in 1864, and three further parts were issued in 1865–7. But his heath failed and he died, leaving around half of the trilobites then known from Britain unclassified; the work was wound up in 1883. Though unfinished, Salter's monograph has thirty excellent plates which make it an essential starting point for the study of British Devonian, Silurian and Ordovician trilobites. The monograph is also frequently cited because Salter's 'preliminary classification of trilobites', though brief, was the best devised up to that time, and has since served as a framework for the classifications used today. Salter introduced four orders of trilobites, three of which - Phacopida, Asaphida, Agnostida - are generally recognised today; only his group 'Ampycini' is not now used.

A Monograph of the Eocene Mollusca of England
  • Volume 2, A Monograph of the Eocene Bivalves of England
  • Searles V. Wood
  • Published online:
    05 June 2015
    Print publication:
    30 October 2014
    First published in:
    1861
  • The Eocene sediments of the London and Hampshire basins in southern England are rich in fossil invertebrates, plants and vertebrates; in particular, they yield a great diversity of often well-preserved fossil mollusc shells. Seeking to provide a methodical treatment of known specimens, Frederick E. Edwards (1799–1875) and Searles V. Wood (1798–1880) had divided the workload of describing the Mollusca found in the English Tertiary formations, with Edwards taking the older formations and Wood the newer. When Edwards became ill, however, Wood took on the Eocene bivalves, yet he was unable to add much to the treatment of cephalopods and gastropods. Featuring detailed illustrations, the two volumes provide for each species a synonymy, diagnosis (in Latin), full description, dimensions, occurrence, and well-informed remarks. Volume 2 comprises Wood's Monograph of the Eocene Bivalves of England, originally published in three parts between 1861 and 1871. This reissue includes the 1877 supplement.

A Monograph of the Crag Mollusca
  • Or, Descriptions of Shells from the Middle and Upper Tertiaries of the East of England
  • Volume 1, Univalves
  • Searles V. Wood
  • Published online:
    05 June 2015
    Print publication:
    20 November 2014
    First published in:
    1848
  • The Pliocene-Pleistocene Crags of East Anglia are an incredibly rich source of fossil shells, many belonging to extant Boreal and Mediterranean genera. Dominated by marine gastropods and bivalves, the deposits also contain evidence of terrestrial and non-marine gastropods and bivalves, brachiopods, and extensive epifauna including bryozoans. Published between 1848 and 1879 in four volumes, the latter two being supplements with further descriptions and geological notes, this monograph by Searles Valentine Wood (1798–1880) covers more than 650 species and varieties of fossil mollusc. For each species Wood gives a synonymy, diagnosis (in Latin), full description, dimensions, occurrence and remarks. The supplements also provide a breakdown of the species and their current distribution. The detailed plates were prepared by the conchologist George Brettingham Sowerby and his namesake son. Volume 1 (1848) covers gastropods and scaphopods, illustrated in 21 plates.

A Monograph of the Permian Fossils of England
  • William King
  • Published online:
    05 June 2015
    Print publication:
    11 December 2014
    First published in:
    1850
  • In 1850, William King (1809–86) published the first comprehensive study of fossils from the Permian following the establishment of the system by Murchison in 1841. The monograph is based mainly on King's own collections; the type and figured material now belongs to the James Mitchell Museum, National University of Ireland, Galway, where King was professor of geology and mineralogy for many years. Some 150 species, over one-third identified by King, are carefully described and beautifully illustrated. The fossil biota ranges from foraminiferans to plants and reptiles; but a key focus is the large fauna of fossil invertebrates, notably brachiopods and molluscs, from the Magnesian Limestone. The work includes detailed data on the distribution of the floras and faunas in counties Durham and Northumberland together with elsewhere in the Zechstein province. Data on the numbers of taxa and some notes on the significance of the Permian biota are also provided.

The Fossil Fishes of the English Chalk
  • Arthur Smith Woodward
  • Published online:
    05 November 2014
    Print publication:
    24 April 2014
    First published in:
    1902
  • The Chalk Group of southern and eastern England preserves a rich marine fauna of Late Cretaceous age. In this work, first published in seven parts between 1902 and 1912, Arthur Smith Woodward (1864–1944) provides what remains the principal account of fossil fishes from these deposits. Woodward describes and illustrates over fifty genera of ray-finned, lobe-finned, and cartilaginous fishes. The three-dimensional preservation of some Chalk fishes allows Woodward to describe aspects of anatomy not visible in heavily compressed fossils of similar age from other localities. Woodward finds that the fine detail apparent in bony fish skulls from the Chalk provides evidence of a closer correspondence between Cretaceous species and their modern relatives than had previously been anticipated. This monograph represents one of Woodward's last truly monumental contributions on fossil fishes, and was completed at around the time his scientific attention became increasingly dedicated to the now infamous Piltdown Man.

The Fossil Fishes of the English Wealden and Purbeck Formations
  • Arthur Smith Woodward
  • Published online:
    05 November 2014
    Print publication:
    24 April 2014
    First published in:
    1916
  • The Purbeck and Wealden formations of southern England represent marginal marine and continental deposition during the latest Jurassic and Early Cretaceous periods. More famous for their fossil dinosaurs and mammals, these units also yield the remains of fishes. In this work, first published in three parts between 1916 and 1919, Arthur Smith Woodward (1864–1944) provides the most extensive overview of the Purbeck and Wealden ichthyofauna, describing and illustrating some thirty genera of cartilaginous, lobe-finned, and ray-finned fishes. Woodward finds the preservation of fishes from both deposits to be suboptimal, but nevertheless comes to some important conclusions: he shows that the fish fauna of the English Wealden is nearly identical to that of the famous coeval deposits of Bernissart in Belgium, and finds that the species from both the Wealden and Purbeck show closer affinities with Jurassic forms than with later Cretaceous lineages like those described in his monograph on fishes from the Chalk.

Monograph on the Fossil Reptilia of the London Clay
  • And of the Bracklesham and Other Tertiary Beds
  • Richard Owen, Thomas Bell
  • Published online:
    05 May 2012
    Print publication:
    03 November 2011
    First published in:
    1849
  • Covering a wide area of the London and Hampshire basins, the London Clay has been famous for over two hundred years as one of the richest Eocene strata in the country. In this work, first published between 1849 and 1858, Fellows of the Royal Society Richard Owen (1804–92) and Thomas Bell (1792–1880) describe their findings from among the reptilian fossils found there. The book is divided into four parts, covering chelonian, crocodilian, lacertilian and ophidian fossils, and includes an extensive section of detailed illustrations. Using his characteristic 'bone to bone' method and an emphasis on taxonomy, Owen draws some significant conclusions; he shows that some of Cuvier's classifications were wrongly extended to marine turtles, and adds to the evidence for an Eocene period much warmer than the present. The work is a fascinating example of pre-Darwinian palaeontology by two scientists later much involved in the evolutionary controversy.

Monographs on the Fossil Lepadidae, Balanidae and Verrucidae
  • Charles Darwin
  • Published online:
    01 June 2011
    Print publication:
    20 July 2009
    First published in:
    1851
  • These two short monographs, published under the auspices of the Palaeontographical Society in 1851 and 1854, show Charles Darwin as a meticulous research scientist, poring over fossils collected by himself and other enthusiasts in Britain and in Europe. The first volume is devoted to the Lepadidae, and the second to the Balanidae and Verrucidae (all types of barnacle, members of the infraclass Cirripedia). Darwin's interest in barnacles had first arisen in his student days in Edinburgh, under the guidance of Robert Grant, and increased during his detailed work in dissecting and classifying the specimens he had collected on the Beagle voyage. The publication of his findings cemented his reputation as a expert taxonomist and biologist, and his observations over eight years of the minute differences between males, females and an apparent hermaphroditic stage of development lent support to his developing theory of evolution.

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