BIOLOGICAL PAPERS. 171 



A LIST OF KANSAS MAMMALS. 



By D. E, Lantz, U. S. Department of Agriculture, Washington, D. C. 

 Read (by title) before the Academy, at Topeka, December 31, 1904. 



THE following list of Kansas mammals is the result of several ef- 

 . forts on my part to bring the subject of mammalian fauna up to 

 date. Several years ago I announced a historical list of our mammals 

 on one of the programs of- the Kansas Academy of Science. When 

 the Academy met the article was incomplete, and was accordingly 

 read by title. I now confess that in preparing it I met with diffi- 

 culties which I then believed to be insuperable, and abandoned the 

 task. Twice afterward I took up the bibliographic notes I had col- 

 lected and tried to bring order out of their chaotic condition without 

 accomplishing anything of a satisfactcry nature. 



My difficulties were of a complex kind. My opportunities for col- 

 lectiug materials were confined to a limited part of the state. The 

 materials to which I had access were poorly labeled, often with 

 doubtful localities. There was especial liability to error in listing 

 forms that are either rare or recently extinct when proper authenti- 

 cated specimens are entirely lacking to confirm the records. The 

 records themselves are meager in quantity, and are much confused by 

 constant changes in nomenclature, and by the creation of subspecies 

 whose range has not yet been determined. 



These difficulties have not disappeared and the last one named has 

 become more formidable in recent years. I believe, however, that 

 the list of wild mammals found in Kansas within recent times, now 

 presented, is as nearly correct as the present state of investigation of 

 the subject will permit. I present it as a tentative list, subject to 

 correction. No doubt further exploration, especially along the south- 

 ern counties of the state, will result in a number of additions to the 

 list. The scattered areas of sand-hills all over the western half of 

 Kansas also present unusual faunal possibilities, because but little 

 has been done in their exploration. 



Very little of a systematic nature concerning Kansas mammals has 

 been published. Prof. M. V. B. Knox, formerly connected with 

 Baker University, Baldwin, Kan., published a list of Kansas mam- 

 mals in the Transactions of the Kansas Academy of Science, volume 

 IV. A few additions to this list, based on Coues's and Allen's mono- 

 graph of the North American Rodentia, appeared in volume V of the 

 Transactions. 



Professor Knox's list was only partially based on personal captures, 



