Voor U gelezen: A Monograph of the Crag Mollusca and A Monograph of the Eocene Mollusca of England

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. 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 1 comprises the Monograph of the Eocene Cephalopoda and Univalves of England, originally published in several parts between 1849 and 1877.