Born in Paisley, Renfrewshire, Thomas Wright (1809-84) pursued medical, anatomical and surgical studies, and from 1832 spent the rest of his life in Cheltenham, where he worked as a medical officer and as surgeon to the Cheltenham General Hospital and Dispensary. The fossils he collected from the Jurassic rocks of the neighbourhood led him to publish a series of works, including monographs on the British Jurassic and Cretaceous echinoids (also reissued in this series). Reissued in two volumes, the present work originally appeared in eight parts between 1878 and 1886. Wright died before the final part was completed; this was accomplished from his notes by Thomas Wiltshire. As well as descriptions of fossils, there is a comprehensive stratigraphic section, an account of 'the structure and classification of the Cephalopoda', and a comprehensive 'analysis of the families and genera of the fossil Cephalopoda' by Wiltshire. The work contains nearly ninety exquisite lithographic plates.