PREFACE. Xin 



earlier observations on the microscopic structure of the teeth of 

 Mammals. 



The pubKshed Parts of the great Work by Prof. De Blainville, 

 entitled ' Osteographie, ou Description Iconographique Comparee du 

 Squelette et du Syst^me Dentaire des cinq Classes d'Animaux 

 Vert^bres,' contain accurate and beautiful figures of the external 

 forms of the teeth of various genera of Mammalia. These Fasciculi, 

 the immortal ' Ossemens Fossiles' of Baron Cuvier, and the express 

 Treatises on the Comparative Anatomy of the Teeth of Mamma- 

 lia by M. Fr. Cuvier, and Dr. Rousseau, the able assistant in 

 the Museum of Comparative Anatomy in the Garden of Plants, 

 have supplied the third Part of the present Treatise with figures of 

 some of the instructive and valuable specimens of the dental organs 

 in that rich Collection ; but my descriptions have been taken, in 

 every instance, from the specimens themselves, or from the teeth 

 of the same species, which, when not present in the Collections 

 of this country, I have examined in the Parisian Museum, or in the 

 Anatomical and Zoological Collections at Leyden and Frankfort. 

 My best acknowledgments are due to Prof. Temminck, Dr. Riippell, 

 and M. Laurillard, for the facilities which they kindly afforded me 

 in studying those valuable Foreign Collections, which impart essen- 

 tial aid to all who would treat systematically of the dental or 

 osteological characters of the Vertebrate Animals. 



The present Work would, however, have been very incomplete, 

 if I had not been privately aided by the liberal contributions of 

 teeth of rare fossil and recent animals, which were not available 

 for the purpose of microscopic examinations when present in public 

 collections. 



The Earl of Enniskillen and Sir Philip Egerton have supplied 

 me with the requisite specimens of Cochliodus, Smirichthys, the 

 Chimceroids, and other fossil Fishes. To Charles Darwin, Esq., I 

 owed the opportunity, at an early period of my investigations of 

 denial structures, of examining microscopically the fossil teeth of 

 the Megatherium, Mylodon, Scelidotherium, and Toxodon. Through 

 Sir Woodbine Parish and M. Falcone tt, I have been able to examine 

 the teeth of the Glyptodon. Prof. Pflieninger, of Stuttgard, most 



