8 CALIFORNIA MAMMALS. 



the majority of species from personal obsen'ation. I have clone 

 no field work in the northwestern part of California and but little 

 in the northeastern part. I have had exceptionally good opp-or- 

 tunities for observation for many years in the southern' part of 

 the State and I believe the statements of distribution for this 

 part will bear close inspection. 



There is nO' "royal road to knowledge." This saying is true 

 of all the natural sciences and mammalogy is no exception. The 

 beginner will find it difficult to get a start, but when one be- 

 comes a little familiar with the general characters of the larger 

 groups it is a comparatively easy matter to trace out a species and 

 learn its name, which should be but a preliminary step to further 

 study of the species, and not the end as is but too- often the case. 

 Of necessity the division into orders, families and genera are made 

 on technical characters, and it is better for the student tO' master 

 these and begin aright. I have used technical terms as little as 

 practicable. Their moderate use admits of much greater con- 

 ciseness of description. To avoid the use of technical terms 

 would necessitate the use of cumbersome expressions that would 

 greatly increase the size of this volume. For the explanation of 

 the technical terms refer to the glossary, in front of the index. 



The full description of a mammal includes not only the char- 

 acters given under the specific name, but also the characters pre- 

 viously given under its genus, family and order; to add these 

 each time in the specific description w?ould be confusing as well 

 as cumbersome. After becoming a little familiar with the sub- 

 ject it will not be necessary to refer to these higher characters 

 each time. 



A departure from recognized usage in the use of names of 

 authorities is made for the sake of simplicity. The authority 

 for a specific or subspecific name is given without reference to 

 generic changes made later. The words in parentheses after 

 the technical name are intended to be a translation of the Latin or 

 Greek name. This translation is sometimes a free one, to give 

 the sense of the name intended. 



