VOL. X, PP. 93-101 MAY 28, 1896 



PROCEEDINGS 



OF THE 



BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON 



LIST OF MAMMALS OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 

 BY VERNON BAILEY. 



Useful lists of the plants and birds of the District of Columbia 

 have long since been published, but no list of the mammals of 

 the District has as yet appeared. Some species are known to 

 have become locally extinct, and it is probable that others, of 

 which we have no record, have vanished since the settlement of 

 the country. The present list, imperfect as it is, may serve as a 

 nucleus around which to gather additional data, and may prove 

 useful as a guide in determining the changes that are constantly 

 taking place in the relative abundance of species. Corrections 

 and additional notes, with as exact data as possible, are re 

 quested. 



To limit the list to species occurring within the present bound 

 ary of the District would throw out some that a few years ago 

 were common where the city of Washington now stands ; but by 

 following the botanists and ornithologists in the use of a circu 

 lar area with a radius of 20 miles and the Capitol as a center, all 

 of the local species may be included. Probably this circle could 

 be narrowed to half its diameter without leaving out a species. 



In preparing this list my own observations have been supple 

 mented by field-notes kindly placed at my disposal by several 

 mammal ogists who have done more or less field-work in the 

 vicinity of Washington, mainly during the past 10 years. Each 

 note is referred in the text to its proper authority ; but I wish 

 to express my thanks to Mr. Morris M. Green, Dr. C. Hart Mer- 

 riam, Dr. A. K. Fisher, and Mr. E. A. Preble for assistance. 

 Daring the years 1888 and 1889 Mr. Green collected 18 species 



15 RIOL. Soc. WASH., VOL. X, 1896 (93) 



