A Monograph of the British Fossil Corals

In the mid-nineteenth century, two outstanding French zoologists, Henri Milne-Edwards (1800–85) and Jules Haime (1824–56), carried out the most comprehensive study of coral taxonomy and classification that had yet been attempted. They covered all known examples, ranging from the oldest fossil corals to those living in modern oceans. Although many of the taxa have now been revised, and many forms since discovered, this integrated approach was not emulated until multi-author treatises appeared a century later. Originally published 1850–4, this monograph begins with an account of coral classification. The authors then deal with British corals, working stratigraphically downwards from the Crag (Plio–Pleistocene), through all the known coral-bearing strata of the Cenozoic and Mesozoic, continuing down to the 'Silurian', from which the Ordovician had not yet been separated. A magnificent achievement for its time, and still important for researchers, the work is embellished by 72 white-on-black engraved plates.