Literature on foraminifera in general is quite accessible and useable. Cushman's (1948) textbook, combined with the treatise of Loeblich and Tappan (1964), suffices for most generic definitions. Loeblich and Tappan's (1964) work is, in addition, the most comprehensive treatment of the general biology, ecology, classification, and stratigraphic distribution of the foraminifera. On a specific level, the preeminent reference works on the foraminifera are Ellis and Messina's (1940–1982) Catalogue of the Foraminifera, Sherborn's (1888) Bibliography of the Foraminifera from 1765–1888 and his (1893–1896) Index to Genera and Species of the Foraminifera, and Cushman's (1950) Card Catalogue on microfilm. Important as well are Brady's Challenger report (1884), Cushman's (1910–1916) monograph on the North Pacific Ocean foraminifera and his (1918–1931) Foraminifera of the Atlantic Ocean, to mention a few of the works on the Recent foraminifera; a knowledge of Recent foraminifera is important, for a large number of agglutinate foraminiferal genera have stratigraphic ranges from Paleozoic to Recent. Brady's (1876) monograph of Carboniferous and Permian foraminifera is also important.