148. _Wynyardia bassiana_, Spencer 294 149. Tooth of _Scaldicetus macgeei_, Chapm. 297 150. Impressions of footprints in dune sand-rock, Warrnambool 301 Map of Australia, showing chief fossiliferous localities. PREFACE. The more important discoveries of fossils in the southern hemisphere have received, as a rule, very meagre notice in many of the text-books of Geology and Palaeontology published in England, Germany and America, and used by Australasian students. It is thought, therefore, that the time has arrived when an attempt should be made to collect the main facts bearing upon this subject, in order to present them from an _Australasian_ standpoint. With this in view, references to fossils occurring in the northern hemisphere are subordinated, seeing that these may be easily obtained on reference to the accepted text-books in general use. The present work does not presume to furnish a complete record of Australasian palaeontology, since that would mean the production of a much more extensive and costly volume. Sufficient information is here given, however, to form a groundwork for the student of this section of natural science, and a guide to the collector of these "medals of creation." The systematic portion of this book has been arranged primarily from the biological side, since Palaeontology is the "study of ancient life." Taking each life-group, therefore, from the lowest to the highest types, all the divisions represented by fossils are dealt with in turn, beginning with their occurrence in the oldest rocks and ending with those in the newest strata. If a commendation of the study of fossils, apart from its scientific utility, were needed, it could be pointed out that palaeontology as a branch of geology is, _par excellence_, an open-air study: and since it requires as handmaids all the sister sciences, is a subject of far-reaching interest. Microscopy and photography are of immense value in certain branches of fossil research, the former in the examination of the minute forms of mollusca, foraminifera and ostracoda, the latter in the exact portraiture of specimens too intricate to copy with the brush, or too evanescent to long retain, when out of their matrix, their clean fresh surfaces. With geology or palaeontology as an objective, a country walk may be a source of much enjoyment to its students, for "in their hand is Nature like an open book"; and the specimens collected on a summer excursion may be closely and profitably studied in the spare time of the winter recess. The author sincerely trusts that students may share the same pleasure which he has derived from the study of these relics of past life; and that the present attempt to show their relationship both in geological time and biological organisation, may be the means of inducing many to make further advances in this fascinating subject.