EXPLORATIONS AND RESEARCHES 



OF THE 



Department of Vertebrate Palaeontology. 



PREFACE TO VOLUME II. 

 BY HENRY FAIRFIELD OSBORN, CURATOR. 



In the preface of Volume I a brief outline was given 

 of the foundation of the Department in May, 1891, 

 together with the successive appointments of the cur- 

 ator and different members of the staff, of the purposes 

 of the Department, of the twenty-one expeditions sent 

 out between 1891 and 1897, and of the acquisition of 

 the Cope collection of fossil mammals ; also a sum- 

 mary of the collections, embracing in 1897 the remains 

 of 3,000 animals ; and of the palaeontological, geologi- 

 cal and stratigraphical work accomplished ; and a re- 

 sume of the chief scientific results contained in the 

 twenty-one Bulletins. 



It appears appropriate to introduce Volume II with 

 a similar summary of the work accomplished in the six 

 years between 1897 and 1903. 



Staff. — The preface of this second volume must 

 first refer with regret to the resignation of Dr. J. L. 

 Wortman in March, 1 899, to take charge of vertebrate 

 palaeontology in the newly established Carnegie Mus- 

 eum. Dr. Wortman's services to this Department 

 both in the field and in scientific writing were of the 

 highest order. Under his able and energetic direction 

 in the field seventeen of the twenty-one expeditions 

 were conducted, laying the foundations especially for 



