PREFACE 



IN the following pages I have endeavoured to give in non- 

 technical language, and in some detail, an account of ancient 

 life as now known and understood. The wider and increasing 

 interest in the subject is, no doubt, in part owing to many 

 recent discoveries of important fossil remains. The whole 

 subject, however, became invested with a new interest as 

 soon as it came to be recognised that all modern life has been 

 evolved, step by step, from the life of the past. 



The material for bringing ancient life into view is, it must 

 be admitted, still sadly deficient. Much and of the highest 

 value has been lost ; but, thanks to the labours of hosts 

 of workers, much has been recovered. Thousands and 

 thousands of extinct species of life-forms are now recorded ; 

 and had these not been described and classified, the student 

 might well have been bewildered at their multiplicity. 



Fortunately for him such works as Zittel's " Text Book of 

 Palaeontology," Nicholson and Lydekker's " Manual of 

 Palaeontology," and Arthur Smith Woodward's " Vertebrate 

 Palaeontology " have come to his rescue. These books 

 represent a prodigious amount of difficult work conscien- 

 tiously and ably performed ; and they are indispensable to 

 anyone who seeks to tell the story of life through past ages. 



I would also acknowledge great assistance received from 

 the various Catalogues and Guide Books dealing with fossil 

 life, which have been issued by the Trustees of the British 

 Museum. These valuable publications are especially helpful 

 to an understanding and appreciation of the vast collections 

 in the Natural History Museum. A full list of the principal 



