PREFACE. 
a 
THE chief object in preparing the present Synopsis has 
been, to give at one view a complete Catalogue of all the 
specimens of Mammalia, and their Osteological remains, at 
present in the British Museum Collection, and an account 
of the species known to exist in other collections, but which 
are at present desiderata in the British Museum, so as to 
enable travellers, collectors, and others, to assist in com- 
pleting the National Collection. For this purpose, a short 
description has been given of all the genera and species at 
present known to exist in the different museums and private 
collections, and at the end of each description is added an 
enumeration, stating the state, age, country, and other pecu- 
iarities of each specimen of the kind in the Museum Collec- 
tion ; or when the species is not at present in that Collection, 
‘the museum, in which it has been observed, is added after 
the general habitat of the species. 
_ The different individuals of each species contained in the 
British Museum Collection are indicated by the letters a, 6, 
e, &e. When the age of the specimen is not stated, it is to 
be understood that it is full-grown, or nearly so; when other- 
