FAUNA ANTIQUA SIVALENSSS. 



The plan which we have laid down for our guidance in the 

 conduct of this work, is in the first place, to determine the re- 

 mains of the extinct genera and species, and, on the conclusion 

 of the systematic and descriptive details, to investigate the general 

 results to which they lead. The advantages of this method are 

 so obvious that it is unnecessary to insist upon them : for general 

 conclusions in science are of little value, if the facts upon which 

 they are founded be not in the first instance rigidly and accurately 

 ascertained. The order to be observed in describing the dif- 

 ferent families, will depend more on the state of preparation 

 and convenience of the materials, than upon any strict principle 

 of zoological arrangement. This, which might be deemed objec- 

 tionable in a general systematic work, is of little consequence in 

 the case of a particular Fossil Fauna, provided that the forms in 

 each family and genus are taken in sequence. The great palaeon- 

 tological work of Cuvier, opens with the Pachydermata, the Pro- 

 boscidea being the first in the order of description. Following 

 our illustrious guide in extinct zoology, we shall commence with 

 the Elephant group, in which is most signally displayed the 

 numerical richness of forms which characterizes the Fossil Fauna 

 of India. 



