A History of British Mollusca and Their Shells In Four Volumes

A set of reference books on British Molluscs by Professor Edward Forbes and Sylvanus Hanley. Complete in four volumes. Volume I: including the Tunicata, and the families of Lamelli-Branchiata as far as Cyprinidae. Volume II: including the remaining families of Bivalves, the Pteropoda, and the Gasteropoda as far as Ianthinidae. Volume III: including the families of Gasteropoda from Neritidae to Elysiadae. Volume IV: Pulmonifera and Cephalopoda. With numerous black and white plates to the rear of volumes I and IV. Professor Edward Forbes FRS, FGS (12 February 1815 18 November 1854)[1] was a Manx naturalist. In 1846, he published in the Memoirs of the Geological Survey, i. 336, his important essay On the Connection between the distribution of the existing Fauna and Flora of the British Isles, and the Geological Changes which have affected their Area, especially during the epoch of the Northern Drift. It is therein pointed out that, in accordance with the theory of their origin from various specific centres, the plants of Great Britain may be divided into five well-marked groups: the W and SW Irish, represented in the N of Spain, the SE Irish and SW English, related to the flora of the Channel Islands and the neighbouring part of France; the SE English, characterised by species occurring on the opposite French coast; a group peculiar to mountain summits, Scandinavian in type; and, lastly, a general or Germanic flora. From, a variety of arguments the conclusion is drawn that the greater part of the terrestrial animals and flowering plants of the British Islands migrated thitherward, over continuous land, at three distinct periods, before, during and after the glacial epoch. The year 1851 witnessed the removal of the collections of the Geological Survey from Craig's Court to the museum in Jermyn Street, and the appointment of Forbes as professor of natural history to the Royal School of Mines just established in conjunction therewith. In 1852 was published the fourth and concluding volume of Forbes and S. Hanley's History of British Mollusca; also his Monograph of the Echinodermata of the British Tertiaries. In contemporary blue cloth bindings with gilt lettering to the spines. Externally, smart. Internally, firmly bound. Hinges are slightly tender on Volume IV. Pages are generally bright and clean. Very Good.…