A REPRINT OF THE PAEEONTOIvOGICAE WRITINGS 



OF THOMAS. SAY; 



With an Introduction by G. D. Harris. 



Inrtoduction. 



For several years past we have been endeavoring to decide 

 upon the most feasible plan for rendering the paleontological 

 literature of America, especially that from 1800 to i860, more 

 accessible to young students. Digests of the paleontological work 

 of each decade have been thought of; reprints of the paleonto- 

 logical matter in each periodical, transa(fkions, or journal have 

 been considered, but not favorably. All digests, adaptations or 

 condensations of works dealing with the systematic side of natural 

 history have seemed but delusions, and fraught with grave dan- 

 gers; for, what two persons would cull out the same passages 

 as worthy of going into a digest of an author's writings! — the 

 author alone knew just what he wanted to say and how to say 

 it. 



Surely, no scholar will ever rest contented with an abridged 

 form of any author's works; he must have the real thing. But 

 if the real thing is beyond his means and there are no magnifi- 

 cent libraries to which he has access, what is he to do? There 

 seems to be but one really satisfactory solution to the difficulty, 

 viz., a republication of each author's work, exadtly as he wrote 

 and pun(5tuated it, word for word, line for line, page for page, 

 and plate for plate, regardless of the publication in which it 

 first appeared. 



The present Bulletin contains the paleontological writings of 

 one of America's greatest naturalists, and may well serve as au 

 initial number to 'the many of its kind we hope from time to 

 time to be able to bring out. Doubtless some will believe that 

 it is means thrown away to republish these short and seemingly 

 unimportant articles. Yet we believe such not to be the case. 

 More than once have our European co-workers overlooked Say's 

 original description of Exogyra and credited the genus to Sow- 

 erby; too often has Say's work on "Crinoidea" been forgotten. 



