that it becomes most fruitful of good when it is most 

 widely disseminated among the people. 



The Popular Character of the Work. — 

 The present account of the animals comprised in 

 the class Mammalia will be found accordingly to 

 possess a decidedly popular character, not popular, 

 however, through lack of scientific value, but because 

 the author presents the facts in an attractive form, 

 and studies to smooth the path of those who can 

 give only their leisure hours to learning the results 

 of scientific research. The author's style is above 

 all things clear, simple, and direct, and where 

 occasion offers, lively and animated. The descrip- 

 tions of the animals, though necessarily concise, are 

 always adequate and interesting, and the matter 

 of a more strictly scientific kind is adapted with 

 great skill to the needs of those who have had no 

 scientific training. The fact that this work has 

 already appeared in a F"rench and an Italian version, 

 as well as in the original German, attests its popular 

 character and the high esteem in which it is held. 

 This, the only English version, has been prepared 

 by a writer who has already manifested his ability 

 as a translator and author. 



Its Scientific Value.— As a description of 

 the Mammalia — animals which suckle their young — 

 written in the light of the most recent research, the 

 work is of the highest value from a scientific point 

 of view. While carefully refraining from burdening 

 the text with details, the author selects from the 

 stores of his knowledge those facts which are most 

 significant and best suited to throw light on every 

 topic that successively falls to be treated of. The 

 methods of research and comparison followed by 

 men of science are clearly and concisely brought 

 out; and one who has really studied these volumes 

 will have gained a scientific training of genuine 

 value, besides having acquired a just idea of the 

 place in nature of the Mammals as a class, and of 

 the various orders and families of which that class 

 is made up. The geographical distribution of the 

 various animals receives due attention, and the 

 relations of living species to others now only 

 known from fossil remains are frequently adduced. 



The Translator's Additions.— A number 

 of additions, clearly distinguished from the author's 

 text, have been made by the translator, consisting 

 of graphic and interesting extracts from the works 

 of some of the most observant travellers and others 

 who have written on natural history. They have 



been selected with the view of imparting greater 

 completeness to the mental picture which the 

 reader may form of the animals described. In 

 them adventures of travellers and sportsmen, and 

 entertaining anecdotes, serve to exhibit a few of 

 the best-known mammals in situations in which 

 their native character is brought into relief. 



The Artist and the Illustrations. — The 

 Illustrations (above 300 in number) are from the 

 pencil of Friedrich Specht, the most eminent natural 

 history painter at the present day. His success in 

 the delineation of animal life arises not merely 

 from long study and skill as an artist, but also 

 from the fact that he is by education a naturalist. 

 This qualification ensures two things which are so 

 frequently wanting in the works of animal painters 

 who are not naturalists. It enables us to rely on 

 the accuracy of character and detail, so essential 

 to scientific truth in pictorial representations of 

 members of the animal kingdom; and it is a 

 voucher for the fidelity with which the action and 

 behaviour of the animals have been depicted — 

 amidst surroundings appropriate to them in their 

 free life — in the woods and forests, on mountains 

 or plains, on land or in water. The artist has 

 portrayed — and that in the most spirited manner 

 — the animals as they appear in the varied cir- 

 cumstances of real life, in quest of their prey, 

 caressing their young ones, or sporting with their 

 fellows. The engravings have been executed in 

 the most careful and finished manner, under Mr. 

 Specht's own direction. 



Index and Glossary. — A copious Index will 

 be furnished, by the use of which the details re- 

 garding any animal may be ascertained by referring 

 either to its scientific or its vernacular name. A 

 pictorially illustrated Glossary will likewise be sup- 

 plied, explaining the scientific words employed, 

 though most of these are briefly defined in the 

 text, and that generally the first time they are used. 



Conditions. — The book will be printed in the finest 

 manner, on highly finished paper, made expressly for 

 it, and will form two handsome quarto volumes. It 

 will be illustrated by forty full-page separate engravings, 

 and two hundred and sixty-four printed in the text. 

 The Work will be issued in two handsome volumes, 

 cloth extra, gilt edges, 48^.; and also in full morocco, 

 gilt extra, 5 guineas. 



BLACKIE & SON, LIMITED; LONDON, GLASGOW, EDINBURGH, AND DUBLIN. 



PUn LI SUING EXCLUSIVELY BY SUBSCRIPTION. 



