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OF THE 



CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 

 Vol. Ill, pp. 265-390, pis. 15, 16 August 28, 1913 



A DISTRIBUTIONAL LIST OF THE MAMMALS OF 



CALIFORNIA 



BY JOSEPH GRINNELL 

 Director of the California Museum of Vertebrate Zoology 



The compilation of the following list of the mammals of 

 California has proved well worth while as a help in work with 

 the collections in the California Museum of Vertebrate Zoology. 

 It is believed that its publication now will find justification in 

 its resulting usefulness in other ways — wherever, in fact, a 

 clue to the described species is desired. The literature of the 

 subject is widely scattered, and an index to it, so far as Cali- 

 fornia is concerned, has been practically wanting. The present 

 contribution is intended to meet, in part at least, this need. 



It must be urged upon the casual enquirer that, at the pres- 

 ent stage in the systematic study of California mammals, the 

 status of the various forms as here given can in scarcely any 

 case be accepted as final. Only a few genera have been given 

 critical study upon the basis of material at all satisfactory. 

 Osgood's Revision of the Mice of the American Genus Pero- 

 myscus ( 1909) may be cited as the best example of such mono- 

 graphic treatment. Not until each group has been subjected 

 to similar analysis, and especially so with regard to limited 

 areas such as that comprised within the state of California, can 

 the status and distribution of the more slightly differentiated 

 forms be considered as satisfactorily established. 



In including species and subspecies, the writer has in the 

 great majority of cases followed the conclusions of the original 

 describers. Where genera have been formally revised, the de- 

 August 26, 1913. 



