PREFACE. 
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Among recent discoveries in Palaeontology, none have excited more interest than 
the Lower Tertiary Vertebrate Faunas of the Fayura. They add so much to our 
knowledge of the primitive Mammalia, especially of the Hyracoidea, Proboscidea, 
Sirenia, and Cetacea, that an exhaustive account of them, so far as discovered, has 
become essential. The Trustees of the British Museum have therefore availed 
themselves of the generous co-operation of the Egyptian Government to produce a 
Descriptive Catalogue of all the more important fossils by which these ancient Faunas 
are at present known. The greater part of the collection, now in the Geological 
Museum, Cairo, was made by Mr. H. J. L. Beadnell under the direction of Captain IT. 
G. Lyons, Director-General of the Egyptian Surveys ; while the smaller collection, in 
the Geological Department of the British Museum, was made partly by Dr. C. AV. 
Andrews, the author of this Descriptive Catalogue, partly by donations of duplicates 
from the Egyptian Government. During the preparation of the work Dr. Andrews 
has had the opportunity of studying both these collections in detail, and the result is 
a satisfactory basis for future research. How much remains to be discovered for the 
elaboration of the preliminary sketch now given, will be readily realised on perusing 
the various sections of the Catalosrue. 
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Thanks are due to the Right Hon. the Earl of Cromer, G.C.B., for his sympathetic 
interest, and to Captain Lyons for his cordial help and successful negotiation Avith 
the Egyptian Government. The Trustees of the British Museum are also indebted to 
Captain Lyons and Mr. Beadnell for their assistance to Dr. Andrews in his collecting 
expeditions ; while special acknowledgment must be made of the funds generously 
provided for some of these expeditions by Mr. W. E. de Winton, Avhose presents are 
severally enumerated in the Catalogue. 
A. SMITH WOODWARD. 
Depaetment op Geology, 
Beitish Museum (Natueal Histoey). 
5th March, 1906. 
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