PREFACE 
TO THE THIRD VOLUME. 
Agreeable to the plan of this work, the important observations 
and discoveries of M. Lamarck and of M. Cuvier are introduced in 
the present volume ; but it may be necessary to notice the circum- 
stances which have occasioned the account of their labours to be 
extended to so considerable a length. 
Excepting the Fossilia Hantoniensia of Solander and Brander, no 
really systematic arrangement of fossil shells had appeared ; the 
classification of shells, therefore, by Lamarck, in which particular 
attention is paid to those in a fossil state, became highly estimable. 
So clear and so comprehensive is the arrangement of this naturalist, 
that of the numerous fossil shells which were unclassed, there are 
hardly any which may not now be placed under an appropriate 
genus. This circumstance alone, it is presumed, will warrant the 
having introduced into this volume the generic characters of this 
system. 
Very few successful anatomical examinations of the fossil remains 
' °f amphibia, and of land animals, had been attempted before the 
justly celebrated Cuvier made them the subjects of his investigation : 
but, in consequence of the ardour with which he has availed himself 
