MUSEUM OF COMPARATIVE ZOOLOGY. 143 



No. 8. — Catalogue of the Mammals of Massachusetts : with a 

 Critical Revision of the Species. By J. A. Allen. 



The original design of the present catalogue was simply to contribute 

 a few data concerning the distribution of the Mammals of New England ; 

 but in order to explain certain views entertained by the writer in respect 

 to the character of a number of currently received species, many critical 

 notes were gradually incorporated, until finally it was thought best to ex- 

 tend the paper so as also to embrace a systematic revision of the species. 

 The catalogue is based mainly on observations made by myself at 

 Springfield. In its faunal characteristics this locality does not differ 

 much from those parts of the State lying east of the Connecticut River 

 generally. A few species which occur only in the western mountainous 

 portions have been included on data afforded chiefly by the official re- 

 port on the Mammals of the State by the late Dr. Ebenezer Emmons, 

 but in part as the result of observations and inquiries of my own re- 

 cently made in that section. Respecting the marine species, I have 

 consulted Captain N. E. Atwood, of Provincetown, a gentleman well 

 known as a reliable observer, and whose forty years' experience along 

 our coast has rendered him very familiar with our larger marine Ver- 

 tebrata. I have thus been able to add not a little to our knowledge of 

 some of those species least known, and the most difficult to observe, of 

 all our Mammalia. The great obligation I am under for his kind co- 

 operation is fully evident from the valuable notes he has furnished on 

 the Cetaceans. I am also greatly indebted to Professor E. D. Cope, of 

 Philadelphia, to whom I transmitted the notes of Captain Atwood, for 

 kindly identifying the species. 



Less attention seems to have been paid by our naturalists to the 

 Mammals of the State than to the Birds, or several of the other classes 

 of our animals. This may be owing to the greater difficulty of observ- 

 ing and procuring the former, arising from either their scarcity or 

 reclusive habits. 



The first general scientific notice of Massachusetts Mammalia seems 

 to have been a simply nominal catalogue by Dr. Edward Hitchcock, 

 published in his Report on the Geology, Mineralogy, Botany, and 



