Introduction 



The object of the present list is to summarize the results of taxonomic 

 studies of North American Recent mammals up to January 1, 1953, and to 

 indicate the forms represented in the collections of the United States National 

 Museum. North America as here understood includes the entire continent from 

 Panama northward, Greenland, the Greater Antilles, and the Lesser Antilles south 

 to Grenada. In no other museum is the mammal fauna of an area of comparable 

 size so largely represented. The extent of this representation is shown by the 

 tabular synopsis on the following page. 



At least 263,214 specimens, including 1871 types, comprise the collection 

 of North American Recent mammals in the United States National Museum. 

 Approximately 56 percent of this material is in the collection brought together by 

 the staff of the Fish and Wildlife Service, Department of the Interior; the 

 remainder, including the seals, sirenians, cetaceans, and all of the older, more 

 historic specimens, is kept in the museum collection. The material derived from 

 these two sources furnishes so complete a representation of the mammals of North 

 America that, of the 3,622 forms now listed, only 544 are not included. 



The number of specimens in the Fish and Wildlife collection entered in the 

 Museum's catalogs to June 30, 1952, is 146,228. This material, assembled wholly 

 by the activities of the Fish and Wildlife Service, belongs, according to Act 

 of Congress (sundry civil act of March 3, 1879; 20 U. S. C. 394), to the United 

 States National Museum. By the same authority, it is maintained as a separate 

 collection pending investigations by members of the service. The wording of the 

 act is as follows: ". . . And all collections of rocks, minerals, soils, fossils and 

 objects of natural history, archeology, and ethnology made by the Coast and 

 Interior Survey, the Geological Survey, or by any other parties of the Government 

 of the United States, when no longer needed for the investigations in progress, 

 shall be deposited in the National Museum." 



In 1884 Dr. F. W. True published under the title "A Provisional List of the 

 Mammals of North and Central America, and the West Indian Islands" (Proc. 

 U. S. Nat. Mus., vol. 7 ( App., Circ. 29) , pp. 587-611, Nov. 29, 1884) a sum- 

 mary of the North American mammal fauna as then known. The number of 

 forms known in 1884 was 363; in 1900 the number of forms recognized had 

 increased to about 1,450 (Miller and Rehn, Systematic Results of the Study 

 of North American Land Mammals to the Close of the Year 1900; Proc. Boston 

 Soc. Nat. Hist., vol. 30, pp. 1-352, Dec. 27, 1901) ; in 1911 approximately 2,100 

 forms were recognized (Miller, List of North American Land Mammals in the 

 United States National Museum, 1911; U. S. Nat. Mus. Bull. 79, Dec. 31, 1912) ; 

 and in 1923 the list contained 2,554 forms (Miller, List of North American 

 Recent Mammals, 1923; U. S. Nat. Mus. Bull. 128, Apr. 29, 1924). 



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