﻿PKEFACE. 
  

  

  The 
  first 
  volume 
  of 
  the 
  present 
  Catalogue 
  of 
  Fossil 
  Pishes 
  — 
  the 
  

   result 
  of 
  several 
  years' 
  most 
  patient 
  and 
  assiduous 
  study 
  — 
  appeared 
  

   in 
  March 
  1889 
  ; 
  the 
  second 
  followed 
  in 
  January 
  1891 
  ; 
  now, 
  after 
  

   an 
  interval 
  of 
  four 
  years, 
  the 
  third 
  instalment 
  of 
  Mr. 
  Arthur 
  Smith 
  

   Woodward's 
  carefully-executed 
  work 
  is 
  satisfactorily 
  completed. 
  

  

  The 
  whole 
  of 
  the 
  first 
  volume, 
  and 
  a 
  part 
  of 
  the 
  second, 
  are 
  

   occupied 
  with 
  the 
  description 
  of 
  the 
  great 
  series 
  of 
  remains 
  of 
  the 
  

   Elasmobranch 
  Fishes 
  (Sharks, 
  Rays, 
  and 
  Chimseras) 
  ; 
  followed 
  in 
  

   Volume 
  II. 
  by 
  the 
  Ostracodermi 
  (that 
  remarkable 
  group 
  of 
  most 
  

   ancient 
  bony-plated 
  fishes, 
  represented 
  by 
  CephaTaspis, 
  Asterolepis, 
  

   Ptericlithys, 
  &c), 
  the 
  Dipnoi, 
  Crossopterygii, 
  and, 
  lastly, 
  by 
  the 
  

   Palaeoniscidae 
  and 
  Platysomida3. 
  

  

  The 
  present 
  volume 
  carries 
  us 
  through 
  the 
  great 
  series 
  of 
  

   Actinopterygian 
  fishes 
  of 
  the 
  Chondrostean 
  type, 
  and 
  completes 
  the 
  

   Catalogue 
  to 
  the 
  end 
  of 
  the 
  Jurassic 
  series, 
  including 
  also 
  some 
  

   of 
  the 
  later 
  survivors 
  of 
  these 
  older 
  forms. 
  Many 
  of 
  these 
  Jurassic 
  

   fishes 
  seem 
  to 
  foreshadow, 
  in 
  various 
  points 
  of 
  their 
  structure, 
  an 
  

   approach 
  to 
  the 
  more 
  modern 
  forms 
  of 
  Teleostean 
  fishes 
  by 
  which 
  

   they 
  were 
  presen 
  tly 
  to 
  be 
  succeeded. 
  

  

  This 
  third 
  volume 
  will 
  be 
  found 
  to 
  contain 
  much 
  new 
  and 
  

   important 
  information 
  regarding 
  the 
  osteology 
  and 
  systematic 
  

   position 
  of 
  the 
  Pycnodonts. 
  From 
  specimens 
  obtained 
  from 
  the 
  

  

  a 
  

  

  