Page:Jardine Naturalist's Library Foreign Butterflies.djvu/59

Rh remains to be mentioned, to which he communicated a remarkable impulse; namely, the history of fossil shells. This highly important and interesting subject had long attracted the attention of geologists, but owing to the difficulties with which it is invested, it still remained in comparative obscurity. One of the facts most desirable to be ascertained in relation to these remains, was, whether they were identical with species now living, a point which could be determined only by a careful comparison. Applying to this investigation that profound knowledge which he had acquired of recent shells, Lamarck was enabled to illustrate the subject in a most satisfactory manner, and to throw light on some of the most anomalous phenomena which it presents to the inquirer. Besides his extensive acquaintance with the testacea, he enjoyed another advantage for entering upon an inquiry of this nature by residing at Paris, the vicinity of which has long been celebrated for the number and variety of its fossil productions. The result of his investigation appeared in several of the earlier volumes of the Annals of the Museum; but the memoir was never brought to a conclusion. It was accompanied with a quarto volume of plates, containing figures of great beauty and accuracy.

Such are the principal subjects to which Lamarck's