EDITOR'S PREFACE 
THE Grunlzige der Palaeontologie, which forms the basis of the present work, 
was published in the spring of 1895, only a short time after the completion 
of the fifth and last volume of Professor von Zittel’s celebrated Handbuch der 
Palaeontologie. Of the latter, an excellent translation exists in French by 
Barrois ; but English-speaking students are without either an independent 
treatise on Palaeontology or translation from any foreign work, which is 
comparable in scope and character to the writings of von Zittel. 
With the hope of supplying this deficiency the Editor undertook the task 
of rendering the Gruiuzige into English. It was at first intended to bring 
out a strictly literal translation, but with the Author’s consent this plan was 
modified in important respects which should be clearly understood by all. 
The chapters on Protozoa and Coelenterata stand here essentially as in the 
original, but nearly all the remaining chapters have been remodelled, enlarged, 
and brought as nearly as possible up to date by a selected body of experts. 
The greater part of the work is therefore a composite production, and 
from the nature of the case some incongruities in style and treatment are to 
be expected. For all the collaborators to have adhered to uniform limits of 
alteration and expansion would have been impossible. It will be found, 
therefore, that some portions of the revised text are not sensibly different 
from the original while others are changed very radically, and a few chapters, 
notably the Jolluscoulea, Mollusca, and Trilobites, are entirely rewritten. An 
effort has been made throughout to adapt the text more especially to the 
needs of Anglo-American students, and the bibliographies have been enlarged 
with similar intent. 
For all changes in the classification over the original the revisers of the 
different sections are responsible ; but although radical departures have been 
made with the Author’s sanction, one must by no means presume he is thereby 
‘committed to all the innovations which are set forth. How far and whether 
in all cases the system has been improved must be left for experience to 
determine. The Author’s graciousness, however, in yielding his own prefer- 
ences on systematic points will be apparent on reading the subjoined preface. 
Due acknowledgments are rendered the collaborators in the Author’s 
