OF WELLINGTON, NEW ZEALAND, AND REGINALD NEVILLE MANTELL, OF KENTUCKY, UNITED STATES, This Work MY LAST ATTEMPT TO PROMOTE THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE, IS MOST AFFECTIONATELY INSCRIBED. G. A. M. Chester Square, Pimlico, _Feb. 3, 1853_. [The above having been penned by the much-lamented author of the "Medals" some months previous to his decease, it is retained in this posthumous edition of his favourite work as an appropriate dedication, dictated by the parental affection of one of the chief promoters of geological science in England, and addressed to his absent sons, whose works have already shown them to be enthusiastic labourers in the same field, both at home and in distant parts of the world.] PREFATORY NOTE TO THE SECOND EDITION. The untimely Decease of the lamented Author of the "Medals of Creation" during the progress of the present edition through the press has unavoidably delayed its publication. The First Volume has been wholly rewritten by the Author. The materials of the Second Volume had been elaborately revised and much enlarged by Dr. Mantell previously to his Decease. The Editor has laboured to carry out the intentions of the Author in rendering this part of the Work as complete a compendium as possible of the Palæontological history of the Organic Beings of which it treats, and in adapting it to the requirements of the Geological Student of the present time. The various sources from which palæontological and zoological information has been derived have, for the most part, been adverted to in the text or in the footnotes. The Editor, however, has especially to acknowledge the kindness of Mr. J. Morris, F.G.S., in allowing him to refer to the proof-sheets of the forth-coming edition of his "Catalogue of British Fossils," and thereby affording him important assistance in making correct statements of the distribution of the Fossil Remains of the Crustacea, Insecta, and Vertebrata, in the strata of the British Islands. T. Rupert Jones. PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. In the first edition of the Wonders of Geology, an intention was expressed of immediately publishing, as a sequel to those volumes, "First Lessons," or an Introduction to the Study of Petrifactions, for persons wholly unacquainted with the nature of Fossil Remains; but the completion of the contemplated work was unavoidably postponed, from year to year, by the long and severe indisposition of the Author.