INTRODUCTION. 



I HAVE engaged in the present undertaking with a full 

 conviction of its absolute necessity, and am very sensible 

 of the difficulties attending the complete attainment of its 

 aim. 



A work having for its object the illustration of the na- 

 tural history of our country, cannot fail to prove interest- 

 ing, and has long been a desideratum to naturalists. How- 

 ever unqualified for the task, I have nevertheless found 

 ample room for additions, alterations and improvements. 

 On the utility of the undertaking it will be unnecessary to 

 insist, when, on referring to the latest authorities who have 

 treated of this subject, we are struck with the confusion, 

 the errors and the deficiences- which still pi-evail. In the 

 very latest work, Desmarest's Mammalogie, published in 

 the year 1S20, which professes to describe all the species 

 of Mammalia, hitherto known, the number inhabiting 

 North America, is limited to one hundred species. Of 

 these many are described as uncertain, and his accounts of the 

 manners and habits of most of them, are at best deficient. 



These remarks are not intended to imply any reflection 

 on the author, whose work is really one of great merit. I 

 have found his synonymes most generally correct, and his 

 descriptions for the most part extremely minute and accu- 

 rate. The errors are such as are necessarily connected 

 with the nature of the research; the deficiency of materials; 



