PREFACE. 



J HE 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- 

 liarities 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 3 

 c, &c. When the age of the specimen is not stated, it is to 

 be understood that it is full-grown, or nearly so; when other- 



