AN INTRODUCTION 



OSTEOLOGY OF THE MAMMALIA 



CHAPTER I. 



CLASSIFICATION OF THE MAMMALIA. 



[t is not the object of the present work to enter in 

 letail into the subject of the Classification of the Mam- 

 lalia ; but, as it will be necessary to refer frequently to the 

 >rincipal subdivisions in which the various animals treated 

 ►f are arranged, a brief outline of the system adopted will be 

 tecessary. 



A perfect arrangement ot any group of animals can only 

 >e attained simultaneously with a perfect knowledge of their 

 structure and life history. We are still so far from this 

 that any classification now advanced must be regarded as 

 irovisional, and merely representing our present state of 

 mowledge. Moreover, as naturalists will estimate differ- 

 ently the importance to be attached to different structural 

 modifications as indicative of affinity, it must be long before 

 there will be any general agreement upon this subject. 



