[Gutenberg 59662] • The Coal Measures Amphibia of North America

Excerpt from The Coal Measures Amphibia of North America

The works of Cope and Dawson, published between 1860 and 1897, on the Amphibia from the Coal Measures, have been indispensable in the present study. It has been necessary to rely on the published descriptions and photographs of the interesting fauna from Nova Scotia, since it has not been possible for me to visit and examine the types preserved in the Peter Redpath Museum of mcgill Uni versity and in the British Museum of Natural History. It has been possible to check Dawson's work, to a certain extent, by a study of a series of excellent photo graphs of the types of Coal Measures Amphibia collected by Dawson and Lyell and described by Dawson and Owen. The descriptions of these authors have been drawn on for the discussion of the Canadian forms.

The descriptions given below have been made full and complete in the belief that in this way our knowledge of these interesting vertebrates may be advanced. Many of the species have been described elsewhere in scattered papers by various authors. These descriptions have been revised and verified and are collected here in monographic form. The work is a morphologic and taxonomic revision of the Amphibia from the Coal Measures of N orth America. Especial attention has been paid to the factors which have been most active in the evolution of the group, so far as these factors may be interpreted. It is the author's hope that this review may open up the field for many more workers, since we are just beginning to learn about the evolution of this group of vertebrates.

About the Publisher

Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at [www.forgottenbooks.com](http://www.forgottenbooks.com)

This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.