PREFACE 



The present volume on the paleontology of Kansas deals with 

 the Carboniferous Invertebrates and the Cretaceous Fishes. 

 The latter part has been made as complete as the present state 

 of the collections and knowledge will permit ; the part on the 

 Carboniferous Invertebrates leaves yet several classes to be 

 treated, but which, it is hoped, will find a place in the next or 

 succeeding volumes of the series. The work on the fishes com- 

 pletes our present knowledge of the paleozoology of the Kansas 

 Cretaceous, with the exception of that of the pterodactyls and 

 plesiosaurs. It was the intention of the writer to make the dis- 

 cussion of these two groups of reptiles a part of the present vol- 

 ume, but the stress of duties in other directions has rendered 

 this impossible ; he can only hope to treat them fully in the 

 early future. 



It has been the aim to so treat the fossils of Kansas in the 

 preceding and present volumes of this series that the work will 

 be of immediate use to the people of Kansas. For this reason 

 ful] descriptions and figures of every species have been given, 

 so far as it is possible. Some of the descriptions and figures 

 might have been omitted, giving merely a catalogue, of use only 

 to the scientist, but such apian would defeat the chief object 

 intended — the preparation of manuals or texts for the use of the 

 student in Kansas geology. 



Messrs. Beede and Stewart, the authors of much the largest 

 portion of the present volume, have been students and assist- 

 ants in the paleontological laboratory of the University. While 



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