PREFACE 



MY object in writing this book has been to introduce 

 the principal facts, problems, and results of Paleontology 

 to those who have to study it as a self-contained science, 

 whether students of Geology or amateur fossil collectors. 

 Though, from an academic point of view, Palaeontology 

 cannot claim the status even of a branch of Biology, 

 being an aggregate of accidentally detached fragments of 

 that science ; yet, from the practical point of view, its 

 special technique and applications give it an individuality 

 as worthy of recognition as that, for instance, of Astro- 

 physics. Valuable as a preliminary training in general 

 Biology is to the student of Palaeontology, I have tried to 

 show that the latter, even when studied by itself, need 

 not be reduced to a mere descriptive catalogue of fossils. 

 My ideal (not always attained) has been, in treating 

 each great group of fossils, first to describe with some 

 fulness a few common species from which an idea of 

 the general characters and range of variation may be 

 obtained ; and then to give a brief systematic account of 

 the group. The reader should not be satisfied unless he 

 actually handles the selected species and compares them, 

 point by point, with the description. When he cannot 

 obtain the actual species described, he should take the 

 nearest allied form accessible, and determine precisely 

 how it differs from that described. Only by such 

 definite practical work can he begin to qualify himself to 

 become a palaeontologist. 



