INTRODUCTION 
When I first began an investigation of the Tertiary 
ostracods of the Gulf Coast Region more than a quarter of a 
sentury ago, I quickly realized that the greatest problem 
“acing an ostracod student was where to find the literature 
dealing with them. Our Library contained only a portion of 
the papers which I wished to see. Purchase of many books 
and articles was impossible because of their rarity. Micro- 
Filming had not become a standard practice, but I purchased 
mne of the first Leica cameras with a copying attachment, 
and began a practice of borrowing volumes and filming them 
myself. Then the U. S. Department of Agriculture Library set 
up a microfilm service, which opened the doors to the volumes 
contained in Washington. As more and more libraries have 
added microfilm departments, the task of assembling ostracod 
literature has become much easier. At the present time, with 
a personal expenditure of some $4,500.00, I have accumulated 
a microfilm library of well over 3,000 titles. How many books, 
papers and articles dealing with ostracods have been published, 
I do not knowe My present estimate would be in the neighbor- 
hood of 5,000 titles. This estimate is based on the fact that 
I have partial references in my files to nearly 1,000 articles, 
which I have so far been unable to locate, because of incom- 
plete bibliographic data, and I am sure that there are many of 
1495 
vii 
