PREFACE. 



In my previous volume, the "Synopsis of the Mammals of North 

 America and the Adjacent Seas," the field covered was from the 

 northern boundary of Mexico to and including the Arctic Ocean. 

 The present work is supposed to contain all the Mammals of the 

 remaining portion of the North American continent and the con- 

 tiguous seas, from the northern boundary of Mexico to the Province 

 of Cauca, South America, including the coast islands, as well as those 

 of the Bahamas and the West Indies whose fauna is not completely 

 related to that of South America. In the general treatment of the 

 named forms the method adopted in the previous work has been 

 slightly elaborated, and brief statements of the habits of the animals 

 contained in the various families, and sometimes in the genera, have 

 been given, together with the English name for each species or race, 

 and keys for genera, subgenera, species, and races whenever these 

 were sufficiently numerous to make such analytical tables desirable. 

 For a very large number of the species and races it is well understood 

 that no English names exist, and these had to be manufactured for the 

 occasion, and are practically of little assistance for the recognition 

 of the different animals; but Latin names appear to be distasteful to 

 a small number of the laity, and only those in the vernacular are 

 satisfactory, and it is to aid these that this departure from the pre- 

 vious plan has been made. Numerous named species of many genera 

 of Mammals have so close a resemblance to each other, both in their 

 outward covering and cranial characters, that often it is very difficult 

 to distinguish one from the other, and for them Keys are probably 

 less satisfactory as a means of determining the various forms than for 

 any other class of animals ; but it seems that there is a desire for such 

 aids, which to many have become necessary, and therefore an effort 

 has been made to meet this need, which it is hoped will serve the pur- 

 pose intended. The illustrations throughout the volume comprise 

 not only various representations of the cranium of some selected 

 species of nearly every genus and subgenus, as in the "Synopsis," but 

 in addition a figure is given of some species either of a family or 

 genus, or possibly both, as the peculiarities of the animals seemed 

 to require for a better comprehension of their appearance in life. To 

 those unfamiliar with the diversified forms of the many mammals 

 dwelling within the limits embraced in this volume, these figures 

 may be of assistance, and enable them more easily to recognize the 

 animals whose descriptions are given in the text. 



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