Preface. 11 



His first studies began in 1874, since which time he has spent 

 over three years in camp in field exploration within the state. 

 For the past eight years he has been collecting the material to 

 serve for the present work. The splendid collections of fossils 

 made by Prof. F. H. Snow and Judge E. P. West have been so 

 supplemented that now it is possible to give a fairly good review 

 of the very diverse and extensive field of Kansas paleontology. 

 As an example, it may be stated that all the material figured 

 and described, with hardly an exception, in the present work is 

 now the property of the University of Kansas. From this 

 material it has been possible to add very much that is new to 

 what had previously been known concerning the animals de- 

 scribed. 



The present work deals with the fossils of the western part of 

 state solely for the reason that more preparatory work has been 

 done upon them in the University in recent years. At present, 

 Mr. J. W. Beede, a graduate student of the department of Pa- 

 leontology of the University, has far advanced toward publication 

 a work upon the Invertebrate Fossils of the eastern part of the 

 state, and his report will form a part of the next volume of this 

 series. The remainder of the fauna of the Upper Cretaceous is 

 also nearly ready for publication, the Plesiosaurs and Pterodac- 

 tyls by the writer ; the Fishes by Mr. Alban Stewart ( K. U.'96) , 

 a graduate student of the department. 



Other work is already in preparation for publication, includ- 

 ing the vertebrate and invertebrate faunas of the Lower Creta- 

 ceous, the Dakota, and the Tertiary, based upon large and 

 valuable collections now in the University museum. 



It is the aim in the present and following volumes to so pic- 

 ture and describe the fossils of the state that they may be un- 

 derstood by the ordinary reader of intelligence. But, at the 

 same time, it is imperatively necessary that the descriptions 

 should be accurate, and accuracy can only be obtained by the 

 use of scientific language. The general reader will find in the 

 introductory parts of the different chapters those portions of 

 more general interest. The student or observer with the actual 

 fossils in his hands will be able to follow by the aid of the figures 



