X PREFACE. 



At the same time it ought to be distinctly understood, 

 that many of the memoranda and notes which are now 

 made public are not only fragmentary, but were simply 

 the expressions of the author's mind at the dates which 

 they bear. Throughout the volumes these notes are 

 printed in smaller type than that of the finished memoirs. 



Since Dr. Falconer's death the Editor has deposited 

 in the PalaBontological Department of the British 

 Museum a large number of the specimens, casts, and 

 drawings which are now for the first time described, and 

 which will thus be accessible to those who may be in- 

 terested in their examination. These include all the 

 original drawings illustrating the important descriptions 

 of Fossil Rhinoceros and Elephas Melitensis, copies of 

 seventeen unpublished plates of the ' Fauna Antiqua 

 Sivalensis,' as well as outline tracings for the dramngs 

 necessary to complete that work. 



Falconer was not only a palaeontologist, but a botanist 

 of repute. His Indian career was spent as Superin- 

 tendent of the Botanic Gardens of Suharunpoor and 

 Calcutta, and in Calcutta he was also Professor of 

 Botany in the Medical College. Of late years, however, 

 he paid comparatively little attention to botany. But, 

 although it is as a palaeontologist that he will hereafter 

 be remembered, several of his botanical memoirs are 

 of great interest and value. A complete list of them is 

 given in the first volume, but none of them have been 

 reproduced. 



The biography which is given in the first volume will 

 not only interest Falconer's former friends, but will ex- 

 plain the circumstances under which some of his re- 

 searches were undertaken, and others suspended. It has 

 been constructed fi'om brief memoranda written by him- 



