xxii INTRODUCTION. 
brata from the caves and superficial deposits of Ireland 
are now in the Dublin Museum of Science and Art.* 
While doubtless far from complete, the foregoing 
enumeration of the sources from which the investigator 
of Vertebrate Paleontology in Britain may glean materials, 
suffices to show the ample character of the means for 
pursuing the subject. Most of the collections mentioned 
have been consulted during the progress of the present 
work ; and though the magnitude of the task prevents 
its being a critical veswmé throughout, it is hoped that no 
labour has been spared in attempting to record the correct 
interpretation of doubtful points. Though all references 
are given at sufficient length to be understood without the 
aid of an index, the information has been condensed as 
far as possible, and the following statement will explain 
the general plan of the work :— 
(i) The genera and species are arranged alphabetically under 
their respective classes. 
(ii) All generic and specific names at present accepted are 
printed in antique roman type, while the cross- 
references to synonyms, and all undefined names, are 
printed in bold italics. 
(iii) Under each genus the synonyms are printed in SMALL 
CAPITALS, and under each species in #alics. 
(iv) When ascertainable, the nature and present whereabouts 
of the type specimen of each accepted species are stated 
in square brackets after the record of the locality; and 
in the case of synonyms, the types are similarly noticed 
immediately after the references. When the species at 
present exists, or when the type is a foreign specimen, 
the nature of the evidence on which that species is 
recorded as a British fossil is printed in ¢fadics. 
(v) The type species of every extinct genus, whether valid or 
not, is marked by an antique T. 
* V. Ball, ‘On the Collection of the Fossil Mammalia of Ireland 
in the Science and Art Museum, Dublin,’ 7vans. Roy. Dublin Soc. [2] 
vol. iii (1885), pp. 333-350, pl. xi. 
