Abstract
WE fear that some time must elapse before science will resume its place in unhappy France; but in the meantime its professors, who are innocent, of the mischievous and insane acts which have caused so much ruin, demand our heartfelt sympathy. M. Cotteau, of Auxerre, whose work we are about to notice, is well known to English geologists, and is highly esteemed by them for his long and conscientious labours in the field of Mesozoic echinology. His coadjutor, M. Triger, died during the progress of the work. It consists of two royal octavo volumes, one containing an account of Echinoderms found in the Jurassic and Cretaceous formations in the Department of the Sarthe, the other having sixty-five well-executed plates of species, besides several charts to show their geological and stratigraphical distribution. It appears from the preface that this most creditable production of French palæontology was commenced in 1857, and finished in 1869. We therefore regret to observe that M. Cotteau was not aware of Dr. Wright's admirable monograph on British fossil Echinodermata, which was published by our Palæontographical Society in 1856, and which goes over a great deal of the same ground as M. Cotteau. Had the latter author consulted it, he would probably have avoided some mistakes, e.g. in attributing the specific name of Psetcdodiadema hemispharicum to Desor instead of to Agassiz. A comparison of the figures of this and other species given in both works is decidedly favourable to the British artist (Mr. Bone) as regards accuracy and completeness, although MM. Levasseur and Humbert are deservedly eminent in their style of lithography.
Echinides du Département de la Sarthe, considérés au point de vue zoologique et stratigraphique.
Par Cotteau et Triger. (Paris: Bailliére, 1855-1869. London: Williams and Norgate.)
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J., J. Echinides du Département de la Sarthe, considérés au point de vue zoologique et stratigraphique . Nature 4, 120 (1871). https://doi.org/10.1038/004120a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/004120a0