The early history and development of the field of glycolipids was concerned mainly with the predominant glycolipids found in higher animal tissues, namely the glycosphingolipids, as has been extensively documented by J. N. Kanfer and S. Hakomori in Volume 3 of this series. The major glycolipids in organisms of the plant kingdom, however, such as bacteria, yeasts and fungi, algae, and higher plants, are glycoglycerolipids, although glycosphingolipids are also present as minor components in these organisms, except for bacteria. It is of interest that one of the pioneers in glycosphingolipid...