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PREFACE. 
In this treatise on the Fossil Turtles of North America there are described 
266 species, of which 76 are regarded as hitherto unknown to science. In the 
preparation of this work the writer has had access to most of the collections which 
contain remains of North American fossil turtles. “The most important of these 
collections is that of the American Museum of Natural History, in New York. 
In this are found many of the specimens described by Professor E. D. Cope, 
including many of his types. In addition to these, large numbers of turtles have 
been brought together by the expeditions sent out by this museum during the past 
fifteen years. Free access has been given the writer to the materials in the United 
States National Museum, where There are many of the specimens described by 
Dr. Joseph Leidy and Professor Cope; to those of the Academy of Natural Science 
of Philadelphia, where are found other materials rendered precious by the labors 
of the authors just mentioned; to those of the Carnegie Museum, Pittsburgh; 
the Field Natural History Museum, Chicago; the University of Kansas, Lawrence; 
the University of Texas, and the University of Nebraska. At Yale University 
the writer has been permitted to study and describe valuable materials brought 
together by Professor O. C. Marsh, besides other specimens which form the 
types of species described more recently by Dr. George R. Wieland. ‘Thru the 
courtesy of Professor W. S. Valiant some of Dr. Leidy’s types preserved at Rutgers 
College were made accessible. Specimens for study have been sent to the writer 
from most of the museums mentioned; also from the University of Chicago, by 
Mr. S. W. Williston; from the University of California, by Dr. J. C. Merriam; 
from the Geological Survey of Canada, by Mr. L. M. Lambe; and from the 
Vanderbilt University, Nashville, by Professor L. C. Glenn. 
It has been the author’s earnest wish to see all the types of the hitherto described 
species; and most of these have come under his notice. Unfortunately some are 
without doubt utterly lost; others have, for the time, disappeared from view. 
The author has endeavored to illustrate as fully as possible the species described. 
Whatever may prove to be the little or great value of the text, the writer can commend 
the illustrations. By far the greater number of the figures of the plates are from 
photographs which were taken at the American Museum of Natural History by 
Mr. A. E. Anderson. Other photographs and drawings have been furnished by 
the Geological Survey of Canada thru Mr. L. M. ibarielse3 others by Dr. George R. 
Wieland, ence wale University Museum; others by Dr. W. J. Holland, director 
of the Carnegie Museum, Pittsburgh. The photographs of Basilemys sinuosa 
came from the Field Natural History Museum, thru Dr. E. R. Riggs. A consider- 
able number of the drawings found in the plates were prepared many years ago, 
for the late Dr. George Baur by the United States Geological Survey; thru the 
courtesy of the Survey these were placed in the hands of ane writer. [he major- 
ity of the drawings that appear in the text were executed by Mrs. Lindsay Mor- 
ris Sterling, artist in the department of vertebrate paleontology in the American 
Museum of Natural History. A number of these text-figures are the work of Mr. 
Ill 
