VI INTRODUCTION. 



proper places, several questions on which wide differences of 

 opinion exist. Thus many excellent naturalists regard as of 

 ordinal rank subdivisions such as, for instance, the Lemuroidea 

 imd Proboscidea, classed by Professor Flower as suborders. 



The descriptions of the genera and species in the following 

 pages have been taken from specimens, whenever any were acces- 

 sible ; in the few cases in which, for want of available specimens, 

 the characters are copied from descriptions by previous writers, 

 the fact is stated. The measurements are taken from various 

 sources, and, whenever possible, dimensions of freshly-killed 

 animals, or, in the case of the smaller forms, of perfect examples 

 preserved in spirit; have been selected. The length of the head and 

 body from the tip of the nose to the insertion of the tail and the 

 length of the tail are naturally of little value when taken from skins ; 

 these two dimensions are given, when possible, in the following 

 pages, the tail measurement being without the hair, if data are 

 available. Other measurements often cited are those of the ear, 

 usually from the crown of the head, sometimes from the external 

 base or from the orifice, and of the pes or hind foot, including the 

 tarsus, from the joint corresponding to the heel iu man and the hock 

 in a horse to the end of the longest toe, the claws not being included, 

 unless their inclusion is specified. In particular cases other dimen- 

 sions are added, for instance the forearm in bats. 



Two measurements of the skull are generally given : the basal 

 length, from the anterior or lower margin of the foramen magnum 

 to the anterior border of the premaxillaries, the incisor teeth not 

 being included ; and the zygomatic breadth, across the widest part 

 of the zygomatic arches. The extreme length of the skull some- 

 times recorded is either from the posterior surface or from the 

 supraoccipital to the end of the premaxillaries, or, in some skulls, 

 to the end of the nasals. 



The notes on distribution and hab^s are compiled from various 

 writers, especially from the works of Jerdon, Blyth, Hodgson (in- 

 clusive of the MS. notes on his drawings in the Zoological Society's 

 library), Elliot, Kelaart, Tickell (also including his MS. notes), 

 Sterndale, McMaster, Forsyth, Sanderson, and others, supplemented 

 by my own observations during a residence of more than 20 years 

 in India, in the course of which time, whilst employed in the Geo- 

 logical Survey of the country, I visited many parts of India and 

 Burma, and became acquainted with most of the wild animals in 

 their native haunts. 



