PREFACE. 



The following pages are dedicated to the service 

 of those Admirers of Fossils who have not yet 

 entered into a strict examination of the distinc- 

 tive characters of these interesting substances. 



An attempt is made, in this slight but com- 

 prehensive sketch, to show the difference of 

 forms and structure in the numerous organized 

 beings with which the earth was peopled before 

 the creation of man ; to mark the several cir- 

 cumstances in which they agreed with, or dif- 

 fered from, the inhabitants of the present world ; 

 and to point out, from the strata in which they 

 exist, the order in which they probably were 

 formed. The limits of this publication will not 

 always allow a full statement of those minute 

 distinctions which are tht objects of research of 



