INTRODUCTION TO 1955 REPRINT 



The comprehensive "An index to the genera and species of the 

 Foraminifera," by Charles Davies Sherborn, was originally published 

 by the Smithsonian Institution in 1893 and 1896 in two parts (Smith- 

 sonian publications 856 and 1031). It included all species and genera 

 of Foraminifera published to 1889, giving both the original names and 

 any new combinations used by later authors. Thus it was of great 

 value in taxonomic work and in detecting and avoiding homonymy in 

 systematic studies. Unfortunately for modern workers there has been 

 no such work available for species published after 1890; and, further- 

 more, Sherborn's valuable publication has long been out of print and 

 thus unavailable to many students of this group. 



Systematic work on Foraminifera during the past forty years has 

 received a tremendous impulse from their economic value, especially 

 that concerned with the search for petroleum and more recently with 

 ecologic and paleoecologic studies. At jn-esent there is a larger number 

 of paleontologists actively engaged in foraminiferal studies than is 

 specializing in any other group of the invertebrates. Because of the 

 daily increasing volume of published material, it is difficult to keep 

 abreast of nomenclatural changes in current work. 



Recently, Hans E. Thalmann completed for publication an index of 

 the Foraminifera from 1890 to 1950. This work continues the earlier 

 work by Sherborn, bringing it up to date, but does not repeat the ma- 

 terial of Sherborn's book. Therefore, in order to have a complete index 

 of the Foraminifera available to all, including material before and 

 after 1890, it is necessary to reprint Sherborn's original publication. 

 With the forthcoming publication of the monumental Thalmann index 

 to the genera and species from 1890 to 1950, and with the present 

 reprinting of Sherborn's classic index of the species up to and including 

 1889, modern students will now have an invaluable tool in their 

 systematic work on the Foraminifera. 



The present edition, bringing together into one volume the two parts 

 of the original edition, is reproduced by offset from the original, un- 

 changed except for the addition of this introduction and a new title 

 page with new volume and publication numbers. 



Alfred R. Loeblich, Jr. 

 U. S. National Museum 



