160 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXVIII. No. 970 



LiKord Fund and contributions by Major G. 

 E. H. Barrett-Hamilton, who has published 

 many papers on European mammals, and by 

 Mr. Oldfield Thomas, curator of mammals at 

 the British Museum, material for the work 

 slowly accumulated, but its preparation was 

 not begun till 1905, when, as Dr. Harmer 

 states, " Mr. Miller arranged to devote his 

 entire time for a considerable period to the 

 study of European mammals. The oppor- 

 tunity was taken of having the results of this 

 work published here instead of in America, 

 by inducing him to write a British Museum 

 Catalogue; thus utilizing his knowledge, and 

 combining for the purposes of his studies the 

 material of both the American and the British 

 National Museums. Collections were then 

 made in various selected areas, partly by Mr. 

 Miller himself and partly by trained collectors 

 . . . the cost of whose services were contrib- 

 uted by friends of the museum." Mr. Har- 

 mer adds : " The catalogue could hardly have 

 been contemplated if it had not been for Mr. 

 Thomas's unremitting efforts in developing 

 the collection. He has not merely regarded 

 these efforts as an official duty, but he has in 

 addition been a generous donor who has fre- 

 quently supplied funds for the purpose of ob- 

 taining specimens. Mr. Miller has thus had 

 at his disposal a collection fairly representa- 

 tive of all parts of western Europe, and im- 

 mensely superior to anything that had been 

 thought of before he began work." 



The author, in his introduction, goes into 

 details in respect to the gathering of this 

 material, with reference to its geographical 

 sources, donors and collectors, and the mu- 

 seums, public and private, from which types 

 and other important specimens were borrowed 

 for examination. Altogether the number of 

 specimens on which the work was based, it is 

 stated, " approximates 11,500," of which about 

 5,000, including 124 types, are in the British 

 Museum, about 4,000 in the United States 

 National Museum, and the rest in various 

 European collections. Nearly every section 

 of the area embraced is represented by collec- 

 tions, more or less extensive and recently 

 gathered, but not always sufficient for the task 



in hand, for the author states : " This material 

 has been found sufficient, in most of the 

 groups, to give what appears to be a fairly 

 satisfactory idea of the essential features of 

 the fauna. In the ungulates and the larger 

 carnivores, however, it is so totally inadequate 

 that no attempt could be made to revise the 

 genera by which they are represented. This 

 is especially to be regretted on account of the 

 fact that some of these larger mammals are 

 nearly extinct, while others are being modified 

 by the introduction of foreign stock to re- 

 plenish exhausted game preserves. Immediate 

 action is necessary if the final opportunity to 

 gain a clear understanding of this part of the 

 European fauna is not to be lost." 



The number of forms recognized is 314 (195 

 species^ and 119 subspecies), referred to 69 

 genera. All are represented in the British 

 Museum except 22, and all but 6 of those in- 

 cluded were examined by the author. All 

 questions of nomenclature have been decided 

 by the rules of the International Code. The 

 citations of the literature are " restricted to 

 those which seem of importance in giving a 

 clear idea of the systematic history of each 

 animal " — to synonymy and original descrip- 

 tions of the genera, species and subspecies, to 

 the first use of the names adopted, to the 

 " monographic works " of Blasius and 

 Trouessart, and to such other publications as 

 are pertinent to particular cases. Of the 213 

 text figures, representing skulls and teeth, 

 nearly one half are original, drawn by Mr. A. 

 J. Engel Terzi, of London; the others were 

 loaned by the Smithsonian Institution and 

 were drawn by Mr. H. B. Bradford. 



As usual in similar monographs, keys are 

 given for the families, genera and " forms " 

 (species and subspecies). The descriptions of 

 the species are detailed and comprehensive, 

 and include external and cranial measure- 

 ments. The cranial measurements are tabu- 

 lated and often occupy a number of pages for 

 a single species. The illustrations are re- 

 stricted to the skull and teeth of each species, 

 there being three outline views of the skull, all 



'■ Only 30 per cent, of the species are represented 

 by subspecies, 70 per cent, being monotypic. 



