Palaeontology treasures

The collections cover the entire taxonomic range of palaeozoology and palaeobotany, comprising microfossils, macro-invertebrates, vertebrates and plants. The oldest fossils date back over 3,500 million years, whilst there are sub-fossil specimens less than 1,000 years old. The total number of items was estimated in 1992 to be in the region of 7.5 million. The geographical range is world-wide, with British material predominant and well represented, and extensive foreign material, especially from ex-colonial areas and regions of political and economic importance, such as the Indian sub-continent and the Middle East. Some of the collections are of historical value, marking the progress of scientific exploration from the 1700's to modern times, and include for example, those of Sir Hans Sloane, Charles Darwin, William Smith ("the Father of English Stratigraphy"), Gideon Mantell, Sir Charles Lyell, Mary Anning, and the material from the ill-fated last expedition of Captain Scott. Other important collections plot the progress of palaeontology, such as the Sowerbys (molluscs), Thomas Wright (echinoderms), Mrs. Gray (various taxa from the Ordovician of Girvan), Thomas Davidson (brachiopods), A. W. Rowe (specimens used in his famous works on Chalk zonation), Reid and Chandler (London Clay fruits and seeds).

Echinodermata

Echinoids

Tylocidaris clavigera a ‘regular’ echinoid with club-shaped spines. The spines are often found isolated in the Chalk and sometimes preserved as external moulds in flint.

• Tylocidaris clavigera Upper Cretaceous, Coniacian/Lower Santonian, Micraster coranguinum Zone; Swanscombe, Kent
• Tylocidaris clavigera Upper Cretaceous, Coniacian/Lower Santonian, Micraster coranguinum Zone; Gravesend, Kent

Starfish

Starfish readily break up after death so that usually only individual ossicles are found. Some collectors say that they come in kit form!

Metopaster parkinsoni Upper Cretaceous, Upper Chalk; Bromley, Kent. (Referred to by Sladen in 1893 Monograph of the Palaeontographical Society, Cretaceous Echinodermata 2, Asteroidea and Ophiuroidea) Calliderma latum Upper Cretaceous, Cenomanian; Dover, Kent. (Figured by Sladen in 1891 Monograph of the Palaeontographical Society, Cretaceous Echinodermata 2, Asteroidea and Ophiuroidea) Tropidaster pectinatus Jurassic, Pliensbachian; Chipping Camdem, Gloucestershire. (Figured by Wright, 1863 Monograph of the Palaeontographical Society Oolitic Echinodermata vol. 2 Asteroidea and Ophiuroidea) BRYOZOA Charles Lyell - Collection from France and the Canary Islands. The bryozoans are mounted on cards with descriptions handwritten by him. There is also a letter from Lonsdale to him relating to the collection and some notes about the collection.

Corals

Caninia An extremely long specimen from the Carboniferous Limestone (about 340 million years old) of Weston- Super-Mare, Somerset. (R2277) Frosterley Marble - Slab of Fosterley Marble showing numerous sections of the coral Dibunophyllum bipartitum M'Coy from the Carboniferous Limestone of Frosterley, Durham. TRILOBITES The golden "Dudley locust" brooch This specimen of Calymene blumenbachii from the Silurian, Wenlock (about 425 million years old) of Dudley, Worcestershire, is mounted in gold, forming the centrepiece of a nineteenth century brooch presented to The Natural History Museum by Miss E. Begg (in 1960). Paradoxides (Paradoxides) davidis davidis One of the largest trilobites, from the Middle Cambrian (about 525 million years old), from St. David's district, Dyfed, Wales. Dicranurus cf. monstrosus One of the weird ones (Very fragile), from the Devonian (about417-354 million years old) of the Atlas Mountains, Morocco. (It 26540)MOLLUSCA - BIVALVES AND GASTROPODS Molluscs in Precious Opal - e.g. Euspira (G.19602) and Unio (L.26363), Upper Cretaceous, White Cliffs, New South Wales.

Campanile. - Giant Sea Snail, Middle Eocene, Calcaire Grossier, Grignon, Paris Basin, France [CD ROM specimen]. Eocene range: widespread: Jamaica, England, Europe, Africa, Arabia, Asia.

Tridacna. - Giant Clam, Quaternary, Aldabra island, Indian Ocean. Our largest ‘ash-tray’, weighing over 150 pounds, capable of holding 17,500 cigarette-ends or enough water in which to bath a baby; fabled for trapping the feet of swimmers until they are drowned.

Mollusca - Cephalopods

Dactylioceras commune. Whitby Snake Stone. Jurassic, Upper Lias. Yorkshire.

Parkinsonia. Ammonite cut in half showing septal walls, crystal "chambers" etc. Jurassic, Inferior Oolite.

Spinikosmoceras pollux. Ammonite from Jurassic, Oxford Clay, with spines and lappets.

Australiceras gigas. An ammonite from the Isle of Wight. Cretaceous, Lower Greensand. This ammonite has a straightened last whorl ending in a final hook.

Belemnotheutis. A Christian Malford specimen (Jurassic, Oxford Clay) with phosphatised whole-body preservation including tentacles and hooklets.

Atractites elongata. Fake belemnites made up of 4 or 5 belemnites. Table. A table of Silurian ‘marble’ composed of orthocones and gastropods from Bohemia. Palaeoctopus newboldi. - An imprint of an octopus from the Cretaceous rocks of the Lebanon, showing the eight arms and two tiny paddles on the head-bag. Very rare.

Brachiopods

Davidson Figured specimens (maximum loan time 3 months, by hand collection & return only):

• Uncites gryphus (Defrance) Upper Devonian, Petitor Beach, Torquay. Beautiful polished slab through a complete specimen. B 95876
• Spirifer striata (Sowerby) Carboniferous Limestone, Craven District Yorkshire. B 5202
• Spirifer striata (Sowerby) Carboniferous Limestone, Ardelough, Ireland. Both these specimens have been acid etched to show the laterally directed spiral lophophore. B 5287

Davidson original drawings & notes (some used in research so loan term would be negotiated by hand collection & return only) Originally trained as an artist these drawings and notes collected in 26 volumes date from the mid 19th century to Davidson’s death in 1886.

Various specimens from Glass Mountains, Texas Silicification replaces every morphological detail, the most stunning of these are some of the spinose Productids and Richthofenids.

Pseudolingula quadrata (Eichwald) Caradoc, Lechts, Estonia.

Sowerby & Darwin material (from Falkland Isles).

Recent material belonging to Cracherode (1st major colln of Recent shells donated to the Museum), Hugh Cuming, Reeve & Broderip

Vertebrates

Carcharocles. Tooth of giant shark. Miocene.

Bothriolepis. Primitive jawed and armoured fish. Devonian.

Edmontosaurus. Backbone, with skin, of duck-billed dinosaur. Cretaceous.

Mystriosuchus. Skeleton of marine crocodile. Jurassic.
Platecarpus. Skeleton of mosasaur. Cretaceous.

Skeleton of nothosaur Triassic.

Mammuthus primigenius. Tusk of woolly mammoth, Pleistocene.Coelodonta antiquitatis. Skull of woolly rhinoceros, Pleistocene.
Ursus spelaeus. Skull of cave bear, Pleistocene.
Flint hand axe Swanscombe, Pleistocene.

Micropalaeontology

Show Slides

These include Christmas greetings spelled out by arranging tiny microscopic organisms called foraminifera into the words of the greeting. They were passed between Edward Heron-Allen and Arthur Earland during their collaborative years prior to the First World War. Other Show Slides contain large numbers of foraminifera in decorative arrangements. Heron-Allen is believed to have used these to demonstrate the diversity of these remarkable shelled protists to other members of the various societies (such as The Royal Microscopical Society) to which he belonged. All are contained in standard (3 inch x 1 inch) cardboard single-holed slides and require a microscope to view.

The Alcide d'Orbigny Collection of Models of Foraminifera

This is a collection of 100 plaster models averaging 1 to 2 inches in size. The models were produced between the years 1823 - 1826 in batches of 25 to illustrate some of the taxonomic concepts published in his Tableau Méthodique of 1826 and are extremely accurate in their representation. Unfortunately, of the 150 or so plates illustrating the 552 species that d'Orbigny envisaged in that work, a mere 8 were ever produced to illustrate only 26 taxa. The species represented by the models are, unfortunately, considered invalid for taxonomic purposes because they had been issued to a limited, private subscription. Parker, Jones and Brady later figured illustrations of the models (1865), so that in this way about 100 of the species became valid. Another set is known to reside in the Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle in Paris.

Historic collections

Charles Darwin's Collection 1832-1836, made on the historic Voyage of the Beagle to South America, molluscs described by G.B. Sowerby in Darwin's Geological Observations on South America.

William Smith Collection: A British civil engineer, he produced the first large scale geological map to be published in the world. William Smith realised that the regular succession of strata and that individual beds could be distinguished from similar lithological formations by their characteristic assemblages of fossils. This has led him to be thought of as the Father of English (British) Geology and/or the Founder of Stratigraphical Geology.

Hans Sloane Collection: Sir Hans Sloane's collection is the basis of the British Museum and later Natural History Museum. He was a physician and attended Queen Anne and George 2nd. He promoted Chocolate and Cocoa. His collection was willed to the nation for £20,000 which was then invested in ‘maintaining them for the inspection and entertainment of the learned and curious,... and the general use and benefit of the public to all posterity'. A public lottery raised the money.

Pennant Collection: Thomas Pennant was an 18th century zoologist and antiquarian. His collection was donated in 1912 by the Earl of Denbigh.

Contact

John Jackson
Science Policy Co-ordinator
Science Directorate
The Natural History Museum
London
SW7 5BD