NOTICE OF THE TRANSLATOR AND EDITOR. 
In issuing an English translation of the Lehrbuch der ver- 
gleichenden Anatomie of Von Sr1esoLD and SrTannivs, any 
formal account of the work is quite unnecessary. To all Anato- 
mists it is a treatise already well and favorably known, and it has 
-justly been regarded as the most complete and comprehensive work 
of its kind now extant in any language. The high position and 
distinguished reputation of its authors have been fully sustained by 
this portion of their labors. 
But there are several features in this work which should be men- 
tioned, since by them it is favorably distinguished from all other 
treatises of the kind that have preceded it. 
In the text will be found a lucid yet succinct exposition of tha 
anatomical structure of organs, arranged as far as practicable under 
distinct types. The details on which this typical summary is based, 
are comprised in notes which are as remarkable for their erudition 
as for their copiousness; indeed, the utmost care has been taken in 
the literature of the various subjects treated, and the student will 
here find the most reliable and at the same time the fullest refer- 
ence to the bibliography of nearly every subject in Comparative 
Anatomy. In this way, the work as a whole furnishes a complete 
dictionary of the science, and will prove invaluable even as a work 
of suggestion and reference, to those who would pursue any special 
line of inquiry and research in this department. 
It may be truly said that the Microscope lies at the foundation of 
all our best knowledge of anatomy, and especially that of the Inverte- 
brata. This is the case, not only on account of the small size of most 
of the animals, but because, as Von Stebold has said in his preface, 
the anatomy of these lower forms is scarcely reliable unless based 
upon histological investigations. 
