L3 



PREFACE. 



SCIENCES 

 LIBRARY 



SINCE the publication of Dr Wallace's book on the geo- 

 graphical distribution of animals in general, the only works which 

 have appeared relating to Mammals from the same point of view 

 are the small volume by Mr F. E. Beddard and the series of 

 papers by Mr W. L. Sclater, referred to in the Appendix. 



Both the latter admittedly take but little account of fossil 

 forms ; and there is accordingly ample room for a work which 

 should collect and arrange the information on this subject, and 

 indicate the deductions which may be drawn therefrom. This 

 task has been attempted in the present volume. The subject 

 is, however, so vast, and the information relating to it scattered 

 through so many publications, that it is probable many points of 

 interest or importance have not been noticed. From the mode 

 of arrangement of the work, a considerable amount of repetition 

 was inevitable. 



The long time that the volume was in the press will account 

 for its containing no allusion to certain papers which have ap- 

 peared recently. It may therefore be mentioned here that 

 recent discoveries have shown a slight intermixture of northern 

 types in the Palaeozoic flora of Argentina, so that the isolation 

 of the northern and southern floras is .not so nearly complete 

 as was supposed. A paper just published by M. Boule 1 indi- 



1 Comptes RenduS) vol. cxxii (1896). 



